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Police probe death of man after he left pub
A POLICE investigation has been launched after Coroner Alastair Montgomerie criticised the Bridge Inn in Laxey following the death of man after he left the pub.
Last week an inquest found that Adam Hobson, aged 45, died when he fell and hit his head while he was walking home after a night out in the village in March.
Mr Montgomerie recorded a verdict of accidental death but criticised the Bridge Inn – the last pub he had gone to – for serving him too much alcohol, saying that his death was 'avoidable'.
The inquest found he had a blood/alcohol reading of 291 – more than three-and-a-half times the driving limit of 80.
A police spokesman said: 'The constabulary can confirm it has received the record of proceedings from the Coroner for Inquests and that officers of the alcohol unit are taking the investigation forward.
'It would be inappropriate, however, to make any further comment whilst the investigation continues.'
The inquest heard that Mr Hobson had been out drinking with friends at the Shore Hotel and the Mines Tavern, also in Laxey, before finishing up at the Bridge Inn.
He had drunk about eight or nine pints of cider before he arrived at the Bridge, a free house, where Mr Montgomerie said Mr Hobson was served at least four pints of cider and three whiskies before he was asked to leave by staff.
Bushy's and Heron and Brearley breweries said the licensing court made it clear it was the responsibility of licensees to ensure customers did not become drunk.
But Bushy's brewery boss Martin Brunnschweiler said it could be difficult to assess a customer's state.
'Unfortunately it can be fraught with problems but it's part and parcel of running a licensed premises,' he said. 'It's a very difficult situation because different people have different allowances.'
Mr Brunnschweiler said pub staff's job was made more difficult because they did not know how much someone had had to drink before they came in. He said: 'It's very easy to tell if someone is falling around or their speech is slurred.'
But he said some customers were sometimes able to deceive staff when they came to the bar.
'There isn't really any excuse,' he said.
'The only excuse could possibly be someone has slipped through the net by pulling the wool over our eyes.'
He gave the following advice: 'Err on the site of caution and never worry about not serving someone if you think they have had too much alcohol.'
Meanwhile, Heron and Brearley joint managing director Grant Paterson said all new members of pub staff were given guidelines so they knew what to look out for.
The guidelines state: 'It is imperative that customers who show signs of drunkenness must not be served any more alcohol.'
Staff are told that signs to look out for include customers banging into tables, slurring their speech, repeating themselves, dozing off or falling asleep, and belligerence.
He said staff were also told to carry out regular checks on the premises, such as when they collected glasses, to make sure all customers were accounted for.
'It is something that we have to check all of the time because, ultimately, it can have tragic consequences and people can harm themselves quite badly,' he said.
Mr Paterson said the task of knowing how much customers had consumed before they entered a pub was a problem not helped by the sale of cheap alcohol in supermarkets.
No one from the Bridge Inn was available for comment.
SHOULD PUBS BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR SERVING CUSTOMERS WHO ARE DRUNK?
Send your comments to newsviews@newsiom.co.im
YOUR COMMENTS
I think it's a difficult enough job to run a public house, especially now with the idiotic smoking ban. Ultimately it is the individual's own responsibility to regulate their own drinking – not the pub's. To say that bar staff shouldn't serve drunken people is plain ridiculous. That is why the customers are there! The problem could be that alcohol in pubs is so expensive. Therefore most people these days drink a large amount before they go out to the pub – because they can buy alcohol cheap elsewhere, and the pubs are charging at least four times more than off-licences. A lot of younger people don't ever go to the pub due to the prices, they drink at one another's houses, or in glens or parks. Who regulates their drinking? If your own drinking habits are someone else's responsibility where do we stop with this? We are responsible for our own behaviour!
HF
I think it is irresponsible for pubs to continue to serve obviously intoxicated customers. Excessive drunkenness is unhealthy for the individual, but also unpleasant for those around them and contributes to fights and accidents that waste the time of the emergency services.
TEE-TOTAL
This man was so drunk he fell asleep at the bar and the behaviour of the staff was inexcusable if not criminal. Is it not an offence for licensees to permit drunkenness on licensed premises? In addition, perhaps the Chief Constable and Deputy Chief Constable should read the remarks made by Mr Montgomerie and the predictable feeble excuses from Mr Brunnschweiler, before they repeat their idea of allowing persons under 18 to consume alcohol on licensed premises.
GEOFF, Douglas
This comment is based on the article information only. The inquest heard that Mr Hobson had been out drinking with friends. The mentioned friends strangely disappeared from this sad story. It looks easy blaming pub staff but I wonder how many drinks were actually bought by friends. Who can control that? It is a matter of good manners that friends should look after each other when out drinking and not leaving anyone behind.
JIRI
I have read some stupid postings on this forum (and have submitted some myself) but HF's take the prize. It is the bar staff's responsibility to ensure that the people they are serving are not drunk. Nightclubs have the protection of employing security staff to refuse entry to drunks but most pubs do not have that luxury. It is down to the vigilance of the staff on duty to ensure this kind of thing does not happen. Who can remember the incident involving the "dentist chair" some years back in Douglas. I thought we had come along since then but sadly this case just shows that some pubs are prepared to put profit before safety
PEEJAY
There is a contradiction in the question surely? Pubs serve customers alcohol, alcohol gets you drunk. The thing of course is that everyone's alcohol tolerance is different and how one deals with the effects is different so how are pub staff to know if someone is drunk especially if someone else is buying the drink? It should be the responsibility of the person drinking to know when to stop, but clearly if someone is obviously drunk it is fair for pub staff to refuse to serve them more drink. Surely this is sensible, it's worked up to now most of the time so we do not need this knee-jerk reaction so that someone can be blamed for what was a tragic accident. If anything needs to be done about pubs, it should be about keeping kids out of what is an adult environment with adults using language unsuitable for minors who also witness drunkeness. I recently saw a young boy ask his mother in a club if she was drunk and I heard her reply..of course I'm drunk, thats why adults drink alcohol. Enough said.
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