THIS is a passenger announcement: stand by for a major debate on the thorny issue of whether or not to ban the consumption of alcohol on trains.
As The Herald reports today, it is to be outlawed on all ScotRail services between 9pm and 10am. What amounts to a partial blanket ban is a compromise that risks pleasing nobody. However, that is not necessarily a reason for rejecting it.
As the Scottish Government admits freely, minimum pricing cannot work on its own. Unless Scottish attitudes towards drunkenness can be altered fundamentally, comparatively minor adjustments in price are unlikely to be effective. The whole culture around heavy drinking needs to be changed.
Could an alcohol ban on trains form part of that cultural change? A wide-ranging consultation on the issue produced no consensus. Many individuals favoured an outright ban, citing the impact of drink-fuelled anti-social behaviour on other passengers. By contrast, organisations generally supported moderate, responsible drinking on trains, with action focused on actions to control the anti-social minority.
There is widespread support for the current alcohol bans on trains travelling to and from major sporting events and some concerts. The main objection to a blanket ban is that it risks punishing the responsible majority for the actions of a boorish minority, while perhaps missing the main target: those who are drunk and rowdy before they embark. The same applies to the harassment of women and disabled passengers, which is often fuelled by drink. A blanket ban also would remove part of the appeal of rail travel for those who choose rail over driving precisely so that they can enjoy a drink. And it would deny to foreign tourists the chance to enjoy Scotland's national drink as they trundle by train to our famous visitor destinations.
The consultation also raised reservations about how a ban would operate on cross-border services, as well as the impact on the viability of rail catering services and sleeper lounge cars.
The advantage of a partial ban, covering later evening and early morning services, is that it gets around most of these objections. Cross-border services are excluded. Tourists and rail catering services will be affected only marginally. On the other hand, two of the biggest bugbears – loudmouth drunks on Anglo-Scottish routes and young people preloading before hitting pubs and clubs at weekends – will be virtually untouched by these proposals.
The elephant in the carriage in this debate is enforcement. As many long-suffering passengers can bear witness, bans and restrictions can only be effective if they are rigorously enforced. Will train conductors and British Transport Police have the resources and back-up necessary to implement and enforce such a ban when they struggle already to control anti-social behaviour on Scotland's trains?
An alcohol ban on trains is appropriate if its links with anti-social behaviour can be demonstrated by objective evidence. This partial ban is justified precisely because it can be used to conduct a detailed assessment of those links and abandoned if they prove to be tenuous or illusory. That is why it should be reviewed 12 months after its introduction.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article