Bromsgrove woman hit by first national drinking banning order

A woman from Bromsgrove has become the first person in the country to be issued with a drinking banning order (DBO) banning her from licensed premises and off-licences across England and Wales, West Mercia Police has said.

The DBO, issued by magistrates in Kidderminster yesterday, will last for two years. It prohibits Laura Hall from consuming alcohol or purchasing alcohol in pubs, nightclubs, membership clubs or hotels, and from purchasing alcohol in shops and off licences.

The order also:

• bans Hall from having alcohol in any unsealed container or consuming alcohol in any public place, and
• requires her to undertake an approved course to tackle her alcohol-misuse issue.

If she completes the course and has not breached any of the conditions, the DBO could be lifted after one year.

Hall had already been excluded from licensed premises in and around the Bromsgrove area under the PubWatch and BAND (Bromsgrove Against Night-time Disorder) schemes.

DBOs were introduced by the Home Office in September 2009. They will not be approved if the individual has mental health issues or is drug or alcohol dependent. Breach of the conditions could result in a fine.

Sergeant David Roberts said: “We chose to use this new legislation as a way of helping address Laura’s offending behaviour and we very much hope that rather than seeing it as a punishment, she will use it as an opportunity to get her life back on track.”

PC Neil Sharpe, licensing officer for Redditch and Bromsgrove, said: “A Drinking Banning Order is a powerful and far-reaching tool for tackling alcohol-related disorder and we will not hesitate to apply for further DBOs where we feel they could make a difference within our local communities.”