Bouncers may start breath testing clubbers

Clubbers in Essex who fail an alcohol breath test may soon find themselves barred from nightclubs. Bouncers in Colchester may be encouraged to breathalyse clubbers to reduce the amount of violent crime that occurs in the town’s night clubs. The idea has been proposed by Shaun Boughton, a Lib Dem activist from Wivenhoe.

The idea is to provide door staff with breathalysers to test how drunk customers are; if the clubbers test over the chosen limit, they would be turned away. Many people binge drink on Friday and Saturday nights in the town and people tend to move on to the nightclubs so that they can continue to drink into the early hours.

Currently it is difficult for bouncers to turn an individual away if they are suspected of being too drunk, as there are no rules in place. This new practice would give doormen an additional tool to keep drunk troublemakers out of nightclubs.

Mr Boughton explained: “What has been happening in Colchester is not acceptable. This would allow bouncers to see exactly how much people have drunk. If we’re serious, this is what we have to do. This is the only way people would stop getting too drunk before they go out.”

Local nightclub owner Osman Rasih does not think this is feasible, however, and believes that the process will take too long. He said: “I appreciate people trying to make a difference but if your security is experienced enough, they should be able to spot that sort of thing anyway.” He went on to say that security in clubs needs to be more proactive in the sharing of information when someone has been refused entry or thrown out of a club.

Another problem is that the doormen need to be constantly vigilant, which may not be possible if they are concentrating on taking breath samples.