Westminster View: ID confiscation proposal
10 December 2009
All too often problems are highlighted in the centre of Chelmsford, particularly on a Friday and Saturday night, with individuals visiting the pubs and clubs, consuming too much alcohol, and then causing a problem in the town centre. Despite the tremendous work of the Street Pastors and the responsible attitude of those who run the pubs and clubs in the centre of the town, the problem does persist.
A few months ago I was approached by the owner of bar/restaurant in Chelmsford regarding an imaginative and positive solution to curb the number of underage people drinking in the local pubs and clubs.
The suggestion is as simple as it is effective; it gives doormen the power to confiscate ids – like passports and driving licences – when they happen to have been "borrowed" from an adolescent’s older sibling with the intention of using it to illegally gain access to an over-18s establishment.
The problem, though, is that Essex Police say it is illegal for a doorman to confiscate an id in these circumstances, even though Surrey Police do not think it is illegal and welcomed a similar scheme in their area.
Initially, I took this matter up with Essex Police who confirmed that they were unable to endorse the practice of doorstaff confiscating ids; however, in order to try and move this matter forward I contacted the relevant Home Office Minister asking him to clarify the government's position regarding this issue to determine its legality. The minister responded to me saying "it is the government’s view that door staff are not committing a criminal offence by confiscating the id".
The problem, though, still exists and Essex Police refuse to accept the confiscating of ids by doormen. To try to finally resolve the matter, I have now written to both the Chief Constable of Essex and the Chairman of the Essex Police Authority urging them to clarify the situation because I find it difficult to believe that the Home office would have got their facts wrong, and this scheme is a particularly good way of reducing some of the problems caused by young people binge drinking.
