Lewisham declares borough wide drink control zone

[admin]

Just in from LBL:

Drinking control zone in place across Lewisham

A Designated Public Place Order (DPPO), commonly known as a drinking control zone, has been put in place across the borough of Lewisham following consultation with residents and businesses during the summer.

The scheme will run until the end of February 2011. The Order will give police discretionary powers to stop people and confiscate and dispose of any alcohol within the boundaries of Lewisham borough.

Following the end of the DPPO, Lewisham Council and Lewisham Borough Police will review the effectiveness of the Order to see whether it should be introduced permanently across the borough.

The DPPO is not a ban on alcohol consumption in a public place, and does not make drinking in public an offence, but it is a measure that can assist in tackling street drinking linked to anti-social behaviour. The intention is to provide police with a tool to address alcohol-related disorder in a quick and effective way. Failure to comply with a request from the Police to hand over alcohol can result in arrest and/or a fine of up to £500.

New signs are currently being installed in areas around the borough to remind people they are in a controlled alcohol zone.

The powers are not intended to disrupt peaceful activities. They will be used to tackle nuisance, or annoyance associated with drinking alcohol in a public place. It is not a criminal offence to drink alcohol within the designated area (within the boundaries of Lewisham borough). An offence is committed if a person refuses to obey a police officer’s request to stop drinking.

[CaptainCarCrash]

They can all retreat to the weatherspoons pub, I remeber when I worked in Lewisham and I saw a man in there shareing his pint of bitter with his dog, one sip for him and he held the glass down to let the dog have a bit. I worked by the old mill near the river a few years back, and the park was full off street drinkers who were actually park drinkers, not nice passing through there at night.

[admin]

This is a sign you will be seeing more of ...



You can download a higher resolution version to adorn your front window here: http://sydenham.org.uk/stf_49.jpg

Admin

[Savvy]

This is good news.... So what are we to do? Does it mean that when we see tatoo'd man sitting outside the shop with his friends drinking we can call the police and they'll do something about it? Not 999 obviously, but the SNT ?

[Savvy]

To answer my own question above, yes - that is what you do. I rang the non-emergency number 0300 123 1212 and reported the group of drinkers who were outside the station tonight, they were well tinnied up. There was also a man and woman drunk at the bus stop.
The lady was very helpfull and took all the details and said she would send a unit when they had one available... I have no idea of what that would mean.
The SNT number is 020 8649 3598. You can leave a message there but they aim to answer within 24hrs and that might have been too late.
I have both numbers programmed into my phone now and will ring again each time I see these people, as much as I feel sorry for them they are quite intimidating... The good Burghers of Dulwich Village wouldn't put up with it and I don't want to either.