Drunk tanks

Niobe why not?

Maybe the best type of "drunk tank" would be one full of cold water---douse the drunks in it then maybe they would think twice before getting themselves into such a disgusting state in future !

I know this is probably a wooden spoon question but is it only disgusting when young women pee in the street. What about older women and men of any age?

In the past, drunk and disorderly ( men and women) were thrown in cells overnight, but nowadays there aren’t enough available cells!
In fact, unless they are really disorderly, police push them on their way, can you imagine if they had to arrest all of them?
Drunk tanks are the same thing I suppose, as cells, with somewhere to lie down and a bottle of water and a loo.
Drunken behaviour along with drug taking is the scourge of our age.

DD2 says that if they serve alcohol to someone who is obviously too drunk they can lose their licence/license (never sure of the spelling [embarrassed]).

A lot of pubs employ young men and women barely over the age of 18 themselves and they seem to serve everybody regardless of drunken states.
I think the age of the middle aged landlord chucking drunks out of the pub has mainly gone.
Brewing ‘Chains’ don’t seem to care.

I completely agree with the OP.

We need some serious public education about alcohol, as there has been about smoking. It’s too acceptable at the moment.

Yes indeed. My DH had to wait 45 mins last year waiting for an ambulance whilst having a full blown heart attack. This was simply because of a gang of drunks who'd fell and split head open and then got violent to paramedics. So the truth is.. don't have a heart attack on a bank holiday Easter Monday.

The change I've noticed over the last 10-15 years is of intent.
I hear young women planning an evening out saying 'I'm going to get drunk' as a normal activity.
Drunkenness is as old as alcohol but I don't remember it being announced as an intention. In fact I don't think young people used to see inebriation as a state to aim for until comparatively recently.

I agree with BlueBelle alcohol abuse affects so many people other than the drunken one and cannot be compared with obesity or smoking. I think drunk tanks are a good idea and free up valuable A & E places. There should be a charge for this service but I am not sure how this could be accomplished.

Its also a way of keeping people safe until they're able to fend for themselves again.

Apparently Bristol have drunk tanks, anyone from there know whether it's helping?

Does anybody ever get charged for being drunk and disorderly these days? Like others have stated when we were young, it wasn't really acceptable to behave in such a way and I think there was an awareness of possible mishaps that could occur when not being in charge of one's faculties, hence peeing and worse in the street. Women also render themselves vulnerable to sexual assault.

Nevertheless, historically I think similar behaviour may have been displayed, hence Hogarth's painting "Gin Lane" or something like that, so this generation weren't the first! Mainland Europe always regarded certain aspects of behaviour here beyond the pale. I read somewhere that William of Orange was disgusted by members of his court who thought nothing of defecating in public and generally found London very dirty, so much so, he preferred to live at Hampton Court, positively rural then.

On a serious note I do feel for the medics who have to deal with all manner of unacceptable behaviour as a result of drunkeness and I think it would be preferable if A&E staff didn't have to waste their time with the results of extreme drinking.

It sounds a good idea in some ways. But it still has to be staffed by qualified paramedics and nurses.
Fitting out the actual "tanks" must be expensive as well. So is it cost-effective?
I can see they might be sited closer to the town centres where they are needed and it keeps drunks away from the hospital where they might cause trouble.
It's not much of an advert for a town to have these "drunk tanks" parked in the centre.

I was once taken to task by a handful of posters because I felt strongly about the fact one night whilst attending A&E I was so disgusted with the sight of drunks I dared to say they should be dealt with outside the confine of the A&E. It was not only their behaviour towards other patients they were vile to the staff , totally out of order!

It was an eye opener to see the amount of police standing by beds for those who had either committed a crime and were attending A & E or others that had been beaten up and I am by no means a delicate flower , quite the opposite.

I am perfectly content for drink tanks to be further rolled out and if they prove successful drug tanks too. I genuinely believe A & E departments are abused and most certainly the staff are and as a society why do we continue to allow that to happen .

As a society we need to question what the NHS should be used for free of charge and not fight shy of asking if there are circumstances that should involve a charge.

Elrel We are being told they are successful in Bristol. The local newspaper reports that each "bus" costs £500,000 to fit out and can treat 11 people at a time with 8 beds, showers and seats and a sluice and pump room for the worst patients

I wonder how many staff each tank would need? Do the staff actually tend to the people, or just oversee them?

I should think it's a pretty unpleasant job in the "drunktanks" mopping up and sluicing down, plus being on the receiving end of abuse from their patients.
The "drunks" still need medical monitoring as they might deteriorate or could choke on their vomit.

I agree it's very sad that we need them, and think there should be a charge, though of course that could lead to people still going to A & E for free instead. I won't deny some bad behaviour of my own back in the day, but nothing like what we see now. No, I have never wee'd on the pavement or flashed my bits at passers by. The difference is that we had to pay so much more for our nights out and wouldn't have had access to cheap booze to drink before we left home, even if we'd wanted to.

I lived in a pub for some years and saw my dad refusing to serve people who'd had enough, though I also remember the bar shutters being crashed down and my dad throwing people out when the fights started (perhaps as a result of him refusing service!).

Those rip-roaring renditions of Fairy Tale of New York night have more relevance next year though. All together now - "It was Christmas Eve babe, in the drunk tank....".

Never had mobile phones and facebook when we were younger, so we have no idea how prevalent it was.

dj but we do know about our own experiences and those of our friends. I was "out on the town" every Friday and Saturday night and never saw the sort the sort of behaviour which seems to be normal today.

Four bars in Newcastle have been closed over Christmas and New Year this year. It's to do with drug dealing as well, but that will be fewer people around, and the landlords will have to be more caareful about what goes on in their pubs.

Drink and drugs are more accepted these days, I think. Its quite the 'in thing' to let it be known that you enjoy a bottle of wine, or two, at the weekend. I'm not sure people would have broadcast it a few years back. Getting drunk was incidental to the night out, not the main aim.

I'm not sure that I agree with the NHS going out into the community to treat drunks.

I agree, there have always been people getting drunk but not on such a scale as now, people wandering around half naked absolutely out of their heads on drink and vomiting over the pavements. Certainly, women didn't seem to drink as much when I was young - we always had to catch the last bus home!

Some towns have Street Wardens who will patrol the streets and help those whom they think may have made themselves vulnerable through inebriation but I don't think it should be in the remit of the NHS to help unless, of course, the drinks companies pay a substantial amount to fund this.