Third of Merseyside children binge drink every week

Mar 28 2008

A THIRD of Merseyside children are binge drinking every week, and the average 15-16 year-old is putting away up to 67 bottles of wine, or 269 pints of beer, every year.

Those are the stark findings of a wide-ranging report released today which reveals that the problems cut right across society from the richest to poorest groups of youngsters.

The study of 10,000 teenagers led by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University suggests that around 57,000 of the region’s 190,000 15-16-year-olds binge drink weekly.

In more affluent areas of Merseyside, around one in three teenagers are bingeing at least once a week and this rises to just under 40% in the poorer areas.

And working parents coming home and opening a bottle of wine to relax may be contribut- ing to the problem, the report suggests.

Professor Mark Bellis, co- author of the report, said: “These figures highlight the sheer quantity of alcohol being consumed by underage drinkers. It is being drunk in explosive single bouts.

“It’s about how young people learn to drink – and they’re learning to binge. We have to stop it. There’s also the problem of parents coming home and opening a bottle of wine as a way of calm- ing down and we need to think about the consequences of this.

“Sadly, there is still practically no information publicly available on what is a safe amount of alcohol for children to consume or on how parents can best moderate their children’s drinking.

“Without a clear message that underage drunkenness will not be tolerated, we will continue to see the high levels of alcohol bingeing and related violence identified in this study.”

One of the most alarming aspects of the study, co-authored by Trading Standards North West and the Home Office, is the increase in the proportion of underage drinkers drinking in bars, clubs, streets and parks with out any adult supervision.

As a result, 40% of females and 42% of males who drink at least once a week admit being involved in violence.

The report itself stresses: “Such behaviour increases the risk and spread of sexually transmitted infections, and contributes to teenage conceptions and unwanted pregnancies. Alcohol consumption can also affect educational performance, with 3% of boys and 4% of girls in the UK reporting poor performance at school as a result of alcohol.”

The problems are exacerbated, most agree, as many supermarkets sell cans of lager more cheaply than soft drinks. The combination of factors strikes fear into the heart of agencies such as the North West Department of Health.

Dominic Harrison, of the DoH north west regional office, said: “The problem is apparent across the whole of society. The principle cause of the increased risk is low- er prices and increased availabil- ity, but culture and the increasing social tolerance of drunken behaviour is also a factor.”

This view is backed up by Liverpool council’s trading standards manager Allan Auty, who lives on Wirral.

He said: “Children are coming under enormous pressure to drink out of the home and the majority are starting off in parks and street corners from Heswall to Liverpool.

“The whole thing has got so out of hand that it’s going to take a lot of work, not just from the local authorities but from parents, schools and a real acknowledge- ment that this is a social issue.

“We have carried out plenty of operations to tackle this problem.”

Mr Auty’s team has run 11 under-age alcohol sales operations along with police since April, 2007, racking up 110 test purchases which have exposed 10% of the stores they have targeted.

Staff caught selling to teenagers have been hit with £80 fixed penalty notices and five prosecutions are pending in Liverpool alone.

Stores found selling in test purchase traps can be closed and hit with £50,000 fines.

Mr Auty said: “What is amazing is that in one of these test purchase cases the person at the till said they wouldn’t serve the teenager. A plain-clothes police- man standing in the queue then heard people standing in line having a go at her saying she should have served the kid.

“It’s a step-change we need. Our culture is based on bingeing.

“Everyone is going out and getting ‘trollied’ and that is their stated aim.

“When young people see this happen, they think it’s the norm and they think to themselves that they had better gear up for it.” Countrywide, Liverpool is now the seventh worst local authority area in the UK for excessive and irresponsible boozing and the results are continuing in the younger generation.

The report confirms the link between binge drinking and violence.

Those who binge drink three or more times a week are more than five times more likely to be involved in alcohol-related violence than individuals who drink but do not binge.

Dr Paula Grey, joint director of public health for Liverpool PCT and Liverpool City Council, said: “Liverpool PCT is absolutely committed to addressing and tackling alcohol issues in the city. We launched our alcohol harm reduction strategy in November which committed an extra £10m to tackling alcohol issues across Liverpool through education, diversionary activities, intervention and treatment.

“Liverpool PCT works closely with partner organisations and we are currently working with these organisations to produce a detailed plan for work with adults and young people, which will be implemented over the next three years. For every £1 spent on Alcohol Harm Reduction, we will save £5 later on in treatment.