Boris's ban on alcohol on London Transport (with poll)

[Belushi]

Of course I can - but no-one is going to tell me I can't if I choose to. I enjoy drinking. I also enjoy reading the paper which helps me relax too. And listening to music. Or I could medidate expcept a tube journey isn't really conducive to this. Maybe I could light a few scented candles around the carriage?

Sometimes I would quite like a cup of tea on the tube - or even a nice cool soft drink.

But some days - I need a beer. I don't mean in an addicted way. But in a I'm in the mood for a cool refreshing beer sort of way.

Innit, I dont actually drink much at all; but sometimes when its hot I'll grab a nice cold can of lager to drink on the train home.

 

[untethered]

Sorry, why should someone quietly drinking a can of beer be bothering you any more than someone slurping on a carton of Ribena?

Don't get me started on Ribena-slurpers.

See as no one here has been able to produce masses of reports of problems caused by people drinking on the tube, please explain why you think it should be banned.

These are the regular miseries of city life, not the grand tragedies that make dramatic reading. Mr Johnson seems to appreciate that attention to the small details matters as much as the grand gestures.

Personally, I'd like my tube train to be free of bigots, small minded people and intolerant types who think they have a right to dictate what I can do and not do when it has absolutely no bearing on them whatsoever.

But there you go.

Perhaps you could start a minor libertarian political party which no-one besides you and your friends would vote for.

 

[dream_girl]

Because people who *want* to drink alcohol cannot understand why they cannot, and often (thanks to the alcohol) turn violent when they are asked to stop.

One can of Grolsch and that's it - it takes 10 coppers to bring me down.

 

[Belushi]

I don't care, it's a viable alternative for me!

I'm looking at my A-Z but I dont think theres a viable way ofr me to commute between Streatham and Kentish Town each day by boat

 

[STFC]

What about in parks, or walking down the street?

People seem obsessed with the notion that wherever people are drinking, they are trying to get smashed. The very idea that someone would be thirsty, and pop in to a shop and select a can of lager over a can of coke seems a completely alien concept to most, and it's this ridiculous attitude to drink that gets re-enforced by these stupid draconian laws, and at the same time ensures we'll never normalise our relationship with drink in this country and 'go continental'.

But in places with a 'continental' attitude to alcohol, public drunkenness is often frowned upon. It could never work here. Island race and all that.

 

[dream_girl]

I'm looking at my A-Z but I dont think theres a viable way ofr me to commute between Streatham and Kentish Town each day by boat

Through the sewers?

 

[rutabowa]

Which trains are alcohol banned on, please, untethered?

i don't think he actually uses public transport, he just wants to say how everyone else uses it.

 

[editor]

Because people who *want* to drink alcohol cannot understand why they cannot, and often (thanks to the alcohol) turn violent when they are asked to stop.

Could you support this claim with some facts, please?
Exactly how many drinkers turn violent under the circumstances you have described? Numbers please.


Thanks.

 

[untethered]

Which trains are alcohol banned on, please, untethered?

Tube trains.

 

[Belushi]

Through the sewers?

Good thinking, all they'd have to do is waterproof a couple of tube trains...

 

[Crispy]

There is absolutely no need whatsoever for anyone to drink alcohol on public transport.

There is absolutely no need to hop from one side of the pavement to the other whilst singing rule britannia, transposed to the minor. Ban it!

 

[King Biscuit Time]

What's "going continental"? Getting quietly and slowly drunk all day rather than quickly all in one go?

No, it's realising that Wine and Beer are drinks like any other.

 

[editor]

These are the regular miseries of city life, not the grand tragedies that make dramatic reading. Mr Johnson seems to appreciate that attention to the small details matters as much as the grand gestures.

So what 'miseries' are caused by people having a can on the tube please?

All I'm hearing from you is dull bigoted rhetoric so can you now back up your claims and give documented examples of this "misery" caused by tube drinkers. Thanks.

 

[STFC]

I'm looking at my A-Z but I dont think theres a viable way ofr me to commute between Streatham and Kentish Town each day by boat

That's a real shame, as it's a great way to travel. It beats the DLR, especially on a day like today.

 

[Roadkill]

Actually it can be.

I can't find the relevant part of the "National Conditions of Carriage" at the moment, but as I understand it, if the train has a restaurant/buffet vehicle, and/or a trolley that sells alcohol, then you may of course consume alcohol on it.

If it does not have a dedicated carriage or trolley service, then you are not supposed to drink alcohol on it.

Unfortunately this is rarely enforced because a) there aren't the staff to do it, b) those that can are afraid of getting attacked for bringing it to the attention of those breaking the rule.

Because people who *want* to drink alcohol cannot understand why they cannot, and often (thanks to the alcohol) turn violent when they are asked to stop.

The National Rail Conditions of Carriage are available in pdf format here. I've done a search on 'drink,' 'drinking,' 'drunk' and 'alcohol' and come up with nothing, so it rather looks as if you're wrong.

There is - obviously - a condition relating to disorderly behaviour, but that is not limited to drunkenness. Nor, however much you might want to conflate the two, does it preclude anyone from enjoying a quiet drink.

 

[Fruitloop]

There is absolutely no need to hop from one side of the pavement to the other whilst singing rule britannia, transposed to the minor. Ban it!

Actually 'Rule Brittania' with a flattened third sounds so horrific it's probably illegal already.

 

[untethered]

No, it's realising that Wine and Beer are drinks like any other.

That's odd. I've never noticed anyone becoming surly or belligerent after a surfeit of water.

 

[teuchter]

If it means I can travel around unhindered and unbothered, I have no problem with that.

Much of the reason I don't go out when it gets late is simply down to the fact that I don't feel safe.

Yup, I think I was right earlier, you might fit in better in North Korea.

Maybe Singapore as a second-choice option if you can't get in.

 

[ajdown]

Could you support this claim with some facts, please?
Exactly how many drinkers turn violent under the circumstances you have described? Numbers please.


Thanks.

Those figures are not readily available. But that's not to say that it doesn't happen, and frankly I'm suprised that you are trying to make out that it doesn't.

 

[untethered]

So what 'miseries' are caused by people having a can on the tube please?

All I'm hearing from you is dull bigoted rhetoric so can you now back up your claims and give documented examples of this "misery" caused by tube drinkers. Thanks.

As I said. It's no more about "documented examples of misery" than litter and graffiti is.

And yet, I'm sure we can both agree that they are social ills that need to be curbed.

 

[Roadkill]

Tube trains.

Not yet. Meanwhile, you said that alcohol IS ALREADY banned on trains. Can you point me to which trains, or will you gracefully concede that you're wrong?

 

[goldenecitrone]

It's going to be a pretty tough ban to enforce, isn't it? Particularly at the weekend. I predict a riot.

 

[DotCommunist]

There is absolutely no need whatsoever for anyone to drink alcohol on public transport.

Just because you see no need that does not mean it should be specificaly banned. It's not going to magicaly cure the ills it is designed to adress. There are already relevant laws to deal with those ills.
This is some Boris showboating that will do nothing except piss people off, workers and passangers alike.


Who am I hurting having my one can on the Bus? my fellow passangers never complain. The bus driver doesn't chuck me off. The sodding conductor doesn't even bat an eyelid.

As it happens alcohol and hot food has been banned on the buses for a while in my town. The quiet drinker is ignored and the rowdy ejected.

 

[Roadkill]

Those figures are not readily available. But that's not to say that it doesn't happen, and frankly I'm suprised that you are trying to make out that it doesn't.

So, no evidence at all then. How predictable.

 

[warszawa]

So what 'miseries' are caused by people having a can on the tube please?

All I'm hearing from you is dull bigoted rhetoric so can you now back up your claims and give documented examples of this "misery" caused by tube drinkers. Thanks.

It's actually about general public decency and if you can't see that then you probably have none.

 

[Fruitloop]

It's going to be a pretty tough ban to enforce, isn't it? Particularly at the weekend. I predict a riot.

It won't be enforced.

 

[untethered]

Not yet. Meanwhile, you said that alcohol IS ALREADY banned on trains. Can you point me to which trains, or will you gracefully concede that you're wrong?

As per the comment above, I thought drinking was banned except in the buffet car.

If I'm wrong on that, consider this a graceful concession and let's chalk up "banning drinking on trains" as the next step forward.

 

[untethered]

It's going to be a pretty tough ban to enforce, isn't it? Particularly at the weekend. I predict a riot.

Oh absolutely. People hate having to be told to be considerate of others. They can't stand it.

 

[King Biscuit Time]

It's actually about general public decency and if you can't see that then you probably have none.

So it's now within the remit of the Mayor of London to enforce a certain notion of 'decency' on the people of London?

What's he going to ban next - Women from wearing short skirts? People who pass the Port to the left?

 

[El Jefe]

Oh absolutely. People hate having to be told to be considerate of others. They can't stand it.

I find many things people do in public inconsiderate. However, being a grown up I find I suck it up rather than demanding it all be outlawed. THAT'S being considerate of others