Bus firms warned over booze ban breaches at Highland SPL matches
ROGUE coach firms – who let football fans booze on their vehicles on route to SPL matches in the Highlands – have been warned they risk serious sanctions.
Public safety fears have been voiced to licensing chiefs because of the large numbers of supporters travelling to Ross County or Caley Thistle matches and arriving drunk.
Both clubs now compete in the SPL after County’s promotion in 2012 and have had successful seasons reaching the top half of the league.
That means larger travelling supports are heading north more regularly and the Highland Licensing Board was told this week there was large scale drunkenness amongst Celtic fans when dozens of buses arrived in Dingwall for a match against County last August.
Licensing standards officer Ian Cox said passengers drinking on coaches was a criminal offence but it was not within the board’s remit to tackle the problem.
It was up to the clubs, police, the national transport regulator the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland (TCS) and bus firms to enforce the law, he said.
Drew Millar, the board’s vice-convener, called on the authorities to step up to the plate.
But Joan Aitken, the TCS, said she took the offence very seriously and a coach firm taking supporters to a SPL fixture in Aberdeen was recently sanctioned after a court conviction for letting passengers drink.
A spokesman for Miss Aitken said she relied on the police or other enforcement agencies to report offenders and urged Highland Council’s licensing department to provide any available evidence.
"The TCS takes seriously any report she receives of the apparent consumption of alcohol during a coach or bus journey to, or from, a designated sporting event such as a football match," he said.
"If the TCS finds that an operator or driver has not taken steps to prevent the carriage or consumption of alcohol on a football coach, then she has the power to take action against the operator or driver, or both. All operators and drivers have to be aware of their responsibilities.
"However, the TCS makes a special plea to football supporters to make these journeys alcohol free and to avoid putting pressure on operators and drivers who after all are just doing their jobs."
Police Scotland did not respond for comment.
At a Ross County-Aberdeen match in November, 20 fans were barred from going through the turnstiles because of drunkenness and three supporters were kicked out during the match because they were affected by alcohol.
Councillor Millar (Skye) questioned what was being done to stamp out fans drinking on route to fixtures.
"What are the other authorities doing to stop people filling up on the buses before they start falling off the bus?," said the Skye councillor, who added pub landlords were not supposed to serve alcohol to drunk customers.
Board member and Nairn Provost Liz MacDonald warned the source of the fans’ drunkenness was the alcohol consumption on the lengthy journeys and said they arrived in the Highlands "already tanked up".
Several Dingwall bars had sought permission to open at 10am on matchdays in a bid to maximise profits when fixtures are televised nationwide, which usually means an early match kick-off.
However, councillors decided against extending drinking times because a public consultation on the issue will be held later this year.
* A Midlothian company, McKendry’s Coaches, was summoned to a TCS hearing in February after the firm had been fined £500 in court for permitting alcohol to be carried on a coach taking football supporters to an Aberdeen match.
About 43 litres of unopened alcohol, some of it in boxes, was found on the coach and it was suspected as much had been consumed on the outward journey.
The bus driver had "turned a blind eye" to the drinking. His coach licence was revoked for eight months because of the offence, which came under scrutiny along with other matters.
