Memorandum from Joseph Holt Limited (DDD
04)
DRINK DRIVE
LIMIT
We wanted to write and express our views on
the proposed review of the Drink Drive laws.
We are a company which owns and manages 130
pubs and supply 200 free trade accounts in the North West of England.
We operate a brewery in Manchester and in total employ 1,361 people.
We would submit that to reduce the limit from 80mg to 50mg would
penalise a lot of our sensible law abiding customers unnecessarily,
as it would restrict the number of visits they make to a pub.
The consequences for us as a business, which has already suffered
a considerable fall in trade from both the recent increases in
beer duty and also from the current recession, would be severe.
We suggest instead that efforts be directed
towards a greater enforcement against the minority of prople who
currently abuse the Drink Drive laws and that also curbs should
be made against drug related driving incidents.
Simply to lower the limit now from 80mg to 50mg
would be a heavy handed way of dealing with this issue and would
lead to harsh restrictions for our customers and to a further
downturn in our business.
Pubs are a very important part of the community
and there is no doubt that the current alarming rate of closures
would be exacerbated by these proposals.
It is worth considering if the limit is dropped
to 50mg, how many drivers in future would not risk going to the
pub at all who currently enjoy visiting their local quite safely.
August 2010
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