Should bar staff report drink drivers?

Question

My boyfriend (head barman in a traditional-style pub) has recently got a whole load of aggro from his boss for something he did which I felt was commendable.

My BF rang the police to report that a guy who was pretty rat-arsed was heading outside, car keys in hand, to drive home. The guy had been in the pub all night and was bladdered. My BF heard him arranging to give his friends lifts home and saw him go outside and get into his car. So he rang the police and gave them the car registration number and told them this guy was drunk. The police were able to stop the guy, and arrest him before he killed anyone.

My BF's boss went mad when he found out when my BF had done and said it "looked bad" on the pub and might "breed resentment" among the customers. He gave him a real bollocking.

I think all bar staff should be required to report drunk drivers as they leave the premises. What do you think?

buttonmushroom - yeah my BF said that. how would his boss have felt if that drunk driver had hit and killed his daughter or his wife or his mother?

Their pub doesn't have a car park - its in a residential area and theres nothing to stop peopel parking on the street. My BF doesn't want to be a policeman - I think just felt he had to do something rather than just let this loser drive home really drunk. He said he couldn't have lived with himself if the bloke had killed someone. It could have been me!!

He was convicted, btw . . .

Answer 1

yes he did the right thing boss is a ****head how would he feel if someone got killed and he could have stopped it i think bar staff should have the power to take car keys from punters if they think they have had to much to drink

Answer 2

Hey Lady..Light!

Well... I am sure that the laws where you are writing from (U.K., Right?) are very similar to laws written here in the states. In all states in these United, the law is written with almost the same wording:

"It is unlawful to serve an OBVIOUSLY intoxicated person."

Remember, there are two sides to the law:

The First is an intoxicated person, driving or not, can cause injury to himself or others. He may fall over an overpass, fall in front of a moving car, slap 'Ole B/F while he is being driven home and cause a head-on crash.

The Second involves driving, biking, snowboarding, performing surgery, etc. Any action that can cause great bodily injury. (Yes, in every state and in the U.K., you can be arrested and charged with DUI while on a bike or even roller skates.)

I think that any barman that serves a customer to excess SHOULD BE FIRED!

Since that is not going to happen, what about the drunks friends. They knew he was blotto... Why did they let him drive?

If the Drunk had been in a car crash, even though your B/F called police, in most jurisdictions, the BAR/BARTENDER are the ones liable (They served him... They should pay for damages!).

So how do you like the fact that had the Drunk been in a crash, your B/F would be out of a job, sued for damages and the bar closed. Oh, same thing if the Drunk killed himself. The bar served him to excess!

The only sure way to keep the Drunks off the road; install ignition interlocks (Breath testers) on cars. And the only way to keep Non-Drivers from being public drunks.... CLOSE THE PUBS! STOP SELLING BOOZE!

When we are done with that.... Let's go after Fast Food!

Makes you think, don't it?

James in San Diego, California

p.s. I'm guessing I will not be getting the best answer, Huh?

Answer 3

Here is the USA more often than not the bartender will either take the keys and/or drive the person home or, call a taxi. Coming soon are very affordable alcohol testing strip kits that bartenders can use to determine how drunk someone is before they leave the place and also the level of alcohol in the system. This way the barkeep can make the person wait until the alcohol level subsides to a safe level. The barkeep can also use the test to determine whether to cut off serving to an individual that is starting to act drunk. This is coming soon to the bars here and I will be the one marketing these test strips to the bar owners on the East Coast. They are very cheap, quick and easy to use too.Should help save a lot of grief for all I would think.

Answer 4

YES... Lives are more important then business... Tell your BF to tell the boss in cold clear words that if he has a problem with that the BF may arrange an accident to see how he likes it...

My friends were given clear cut instructiosn that should I ever get drunk and try and drive they were to stop me even if I woke up with a black eye.

I would rather you report me and I got intercepted by the cops before I hurt someone.

I dont really drink so that would be unlikly to occur but may have tried something new and caught off guard.


Plus the bf can go to the papers and really make the pub look bad

And if he tries to sack him then he will really regret it ...


Ie come into the pub with a backet of pigs blood and through it over where it stains and see to it that every relative that has someone who has been killed or injured by a drunk driver has his pubs name, the photo of the bar manager, his home phone number and address.

Possibly even better get someone big who had their daughter killed by one to give him a bollocking.



Maybe arrange a near miss hit and run to scare the **** out of the bar manager may knock some sense into him...

Make him feel fear

Answer 5

Hell, yes. If they don't have a designated driver they shouldn't be allowed to leave an establishment drunk. If the barkeep is worried he should keep the dude's keys and call a cab. There was a case a while back where a guy was drunk and drove part-way home before killing someone, and the family wants to hold the bar responsible for sending him home drunk. And I think they're right.

Answer 6

Hell no, if you go to a pub and drink too much that's your problem not the bartenders or the bouncers. My hubby and I went out last week to a bar that offered all the beers you could drink for $5. We drank quite a few, but I'm a pretty big girl so when it came time to leave I wasn't worried much. The bouncers wouldn't let us leave. My hubby ended up fighting with them and getting his head beat into the concrete for 20 minutes and then arrested. I think the bar should have minded their own business, I was allowed to drive myself home after his arrest and since I was planning to drive anyway I feel like the bouncers should have allowed us to go. If your man is having trouble with being held responsible then perhaps it's just not as great a job as one would think. I hope it all works out for you both. Best wishes

Answer 7

This is a tricky one, as much as we don't like drink drivers, we all know how easy it is to have that one extra pint. However we also know that some people get aggressive when they have had a drink. Imagine what would happen if you thought the barmen was a grass or you had been stopped the night before. You would not have to look far for the person that's reported you. So no definitely not. Just an anonymous tip will do..

Answer 8

Well, I think he did the right thing.
a)this man could have killed someone
b)I don't know where you are, but in the US, bartenders and bars can be held responsible if they serve someone to the point of drunkenness and then they get in a car and get in an accident. They are supposed to take every precaution to keep drunk people from driving. (whether this is just or not I'm no commenting on, but it's the way it goes) I'm sure his boss wouldn't have liked it if he got sued for this patron's actions!

Answer 9

I think the previous answer from Spud got it half right:
The licencee is duty bound to withold alcohol from a customer who is deemed to be inebriated. If the driver were stopped by the law, the licencee is considered to be partiallly responsible. The manager was probably worried that they'd get a bad reputation for continuing to sell alcohol to people who had had too much and that this would cause more problems from the law in the future (along with loss of income etc). so your boyfriend shouldn't have served him in the first place!

Answer 10

Too bloody right and well done to him! So Ray - you think it's bad for business? Well what if he had knocked down and killed a child? Would it be okay to destroy families as long as the pub still made a profit? If I had a pub and saw this I would definitely do it. People need to learn to drink responsibility or not drink at all if they are driving. And if they do drink and drive the penalties should be a lot higher (ie. banned for life) and a prison sentence.