cut drunk attacks

A LANCASHIRE policeman is campaigning for new laws that could stop glasses and bottles being used as dangerous weapons in bar brawls.

PC Chris Adams, community beat officer for Waterfoot, in Rossendale, wants to reduce alcohol-fuelled crimes and attacks by eventually eliminating glass products in pubs.

PC Adams wants to see a British Safety Standard on new-style pint and half-pint glasses, with plastic bottles used instead of glass bottles. The call comes after he launched 'safe glasses' in Rossendale in March. These are made from toughened glass and are four times more robust than conventional glasses. When broken, they smash like a car windscreen, making it difficult for them to be used as a weapon.

PC Adams said: "Just having a few pubs volunteering in one area will not solve the problem. Until it is made law it will not make a big enough difference.

"People have a few to drink, things get violent and they are armed with potentially lethal weapons. Something has to be done to stop this."

PC Adams said he has been working with North West MEP Gary Titley to get backing from the European commission for his plan. He started the campaign after seeing the effects of glass injuries across the county. He said: "This is something close to my heart because I have an 18-year-old son who I don't want to become a victim."

Mr Adams is launching a poster campaign, Saving Faces, to back up the ideas across Rossendale, and hopes it will be adopted by the rest of the county as part of the police's initiative Night Time Safe.

The Adelphi pub in Railway Road, Blackburn, is among those to start stocking plastic bottles of Stella Artois lager. Assistant manager Michelle Herron, 22, said: "We don't get much trouble in here, but when we do it can be limited now."

Mr Titley said: "There is a long way to go. But with the brewing industry interested that is half the battle. I support it. Now it's a case of getting the practicalities right."

A BSI (British Safety Standard) spokesman said: "We are interested in pushing this to the next stage but there are problems with toughened glass.

"Research has shown pint glasses spontaneously exploding due to the stresses on them. If we can find solutions to the problem we are very interested."