Charities join forces to help people stay safe when drinking

Thursday 26th May 2005

Alcohol Concern and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust and have joined forces to produce a booklet, funded by the Home Office, about the effect alcohol can have on your personal safety and how to avoid danger when you?ve been drinking. The guide is not about telling people not to drink but how to drink and stay safe.

Srabani Sen from Alcohol Concern comments:
?Alcohol impairs a person?s ability to make judgements on what?s safe and what isn?t safe. You don?t need to be staggering drunk for this to happen. Even a few drinks can make us decide to take risks such as getting into the back of unlicensed cabs which we wouldn't dream of doing normally.?

Julie Bentley, Chief Executive of The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said:
?Most of the talk about 24 hour drinking in recent months has concentrated on the violence and aggression caused by those who drink but it?s equally important to remember just how vulnerable drink can make people. Violent and aggressive incidents happen on a frequent basis to drunken revellers and, in most cases, these incidents could have been easily avoided.?


The new booklet gives practical, common sense advice on how to stay safe when drinking in a number of situations, such as when out with friends or on a first date.

Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said:
"Alcohol can make people less aware of the risks to their own personal safety, and we know that it is often a factor in rapes and other sexual attacks. It is important for people to realise that when they are drinking, they are more vulnerable to certain types of crime, including sexual attacks.


A copy of the leaflet can be obtained by sending a SAE to You +Alcohol + Safety at Alcohol Concern, Waterbridge House, 32-36 Loman Street, London SE1 0EE, tel: 0207 928 7377 or at The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, PO Box 17818, London SW14 8WW Tel: 020 8876 0305
ENDS

For Press/Media enquiries contact:

Anne Jenkins, Alcohol Concern press office, on 020 7928 7377.

Or

Jo Walker, Press Office, The Suzy Lamplugh Trust Tel: 020 8876 0305 E-mail - jo.walker@suzylamplugh.org

Notes to Editors:
· Alcohol Concern is the national agency on alcohol misuse. We work to reduce the incidence and costs of alcohol-related harm and to increase the range and quality of services available to people with alcohol-related problems. We provide information and encourage debate on the wide range of public policy issues affected by alcohol, including public health, housing, children and families, crime and licensing.

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a registered charity, is the leading authority on personal safety. Its role is to minimise the damage caused to individuals and to society by aggression in all its forms - physical, verbal and psychological.

The Trust works alongside government, the police, the educational establishment, public bodies and the business sector to encourage safety wherever people may be at risk - in the home, at work, in public and in schools and colleges, on public transport and when travelling at home or abroad. As well as being dedicated to improving personal safety for all, whether female or male, young or old, the Trust undertakes a wide range of research, campaigning, training, education and practical support activities to put its aims into practice

Date: 26 May 2005