Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill was more than a year into his post and not even halfway into the transition to the new licensing regime when he told a major conference on alcohol that some parts of the system required �a good clout with a heavy hammer�.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill was more than a year into his post and not even halfway into the transition to the new licensing regime when he told a major conference on alcohol that some parts of the system required "a good clout with a heavy hammer".

Had he this week read the influential journal for those at the sharp end of the system, Scottish Licensing Law and Practice, he would have been advised to replace his heavy hammer with a stick of dynamite.

With exactly a month to go before the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 takes full effect, the much-prophesised doom and catastrophe is clearly coming to the fore.

At the first hurdle some of the legislation is failing the acid test of the sheriff courts. The government's mantra of "it is for local licensing boards to make decisions" on how to interpret often-vague legislation is putting further strain on hard-pressed local authorities with test cases against corporate giants like BP.

Warnings that too many authorities were ill-prepared and that much of the trade simply didn't understand them were finally heeded to head off the potential closure of a huge number of pubs, off-licences, and nightclubs.

Emergency legislation to delay the requirements for all the consents to be in place for the trade come September are now in place, eight months after senior police officers raised their concerns in the pages of this newspaper.

But even then The Herald understands the Law Society of Scotland has major reservations as to the effectiveness of this sticking plaster.

Many within the wider licensed trade lay this firmly with the present SNP administration at Holyrood and the civil servants advising it.

When Mr MacAskill inherited what was already a poisoned chalice from the Lib-Lab coalition, they claim, the wise thing would have been to step back, survey, consult and amend.

Instead, the Justice Secretary took to his task with evangelical zeal, with the popular view being he simply continued where his predecessors left off, albeit more vocally and passionately.

A national licensing forum, to air concerns and grievances, was abolished after just one meeting. Lawyers, lobbyists and licensing boards insist their calls for clarity continue to fall on deaf ears.

Elsewhere, much of the intended new laws on liquor appear to have been too ambitious for a minority administration, particularly with opposition parties contradicting the messages from party colleagues in London to point score at Holyrood.

A ban on under-21s in off-sales has been kicked into the long grass and moved into a forthcoming health bill and although minimum pricing remains a commitment of the SNP, while it stays a minority administration it will stay just that, a commitment.

Come September 1 there will of course be changes. The public will have greater power and scope to object to licensed premises, irresponsible promotions will have been banned, alcohol will be contained in certain areas of supermarkets and rogue licensees falling foul of the authorities will have their venues shut.

There will certainly be greater responsibility and accountability on the part of those who sell alcohol due to the requirement of a raft of consent, while front-line licensing standards officers also promise to become an effective weapon against venues not being run properly.

But whether this is the vision Sheriff Principal Gordon Nicholson envisaged when tasked with dragging Scotland's licensing system into the 21st century or what Mr MacAskill believed would remedy the £2.25bn problem with alcohol in Scotland, a pleasure which now kills one in 20 of us, is highly doubtful.

The last word goes to Roy Beers, one of the most respected journalists covering the licensed trade in the UK.

Writing in a recent edition of trade periodical The Publican, he said: "For once, anyone writing seriously about the subject can use terrifying hyperbole without drawing accusations of alarmism.

"The Arnhem of licensed trade legislative history?

The reports which used to carry now-quaint phrases like "smooth transition" seem darkly amusing now. The ba', as the Scottish expression has it, is on the slates."

Stopping garage sales won't achieve anything'
REBECCA STEVENS

The view of the public yesterday was mixed on the issue of whether filling stations should be allowed to sell alcohol from their shops.

After it emerged a sheriff had thrown the Scottish government's new licensing legislation into disarray by asking Glasgow's licensing authority to look again at allowing alcohol to be sold from BP forecourts, The Herald sought shoppers' opinions at the retailer's outlet in Great Western Road, Glasgow.

Craig Porter, 27, from Balloch, uses the garage once or twice a week for lunch as he works nearby. Although he hasn't bought alcohol from this particular garage he has done so at another garage in the past.

Mr Porter said: "I don't see any problem with garages selling alcohol. As long as it is governed correctly and people are vigilant and take action about people potentially going to drink drive or already under the influence, then I think it's fine."

Catherine MacKernan, 64, from Craigend, mainly uses the garage for groceries and has a different point of view when it comes to the sale of alcohol at garages.

She said: "I don't think they should be allowed to. There is a lot of drink driving happening and as a former nurse I know the varying effects alcohol can have on you and the bad consequences it can lead to."

Saied Pourghazi, 42, from the West End echoed Ms MacKernan's comment, although he has on occasion bought alcohol from a garage.

He said: "I am in favour of reasonable restrictions on the sale of alcohol in any shop and I think there is good evidence that shows the more widely available alcohol is, then the more binge drinking goes up which in turn leads to problems for the individual and society as a whole."

Samantha Fleming, 42, from Bearsden, who regularly uses the garage as it is on her school run and who has purchased alcohol from it, believes that if it prevented children from binge drinking then stopping alcohol being sold at garages would be a good idea.

But she doesn't think that would be the case.

She said: "I don't think stopping the sale of alcohol at garages will achieve anything. When it comes to youngsters drinking then the real problems are cheap alcohol and older people buying them booze."