Call to ban glass in violent bars

The MP said his House of Commons motion was inspired after a constituent was injured by a glass bottle in a nightclub in the town.

Student Nicola Roberts has campaigned for alternatives to glass to be used since her face was cut open.

One leading surgeon who specialises in facial injuries called it “a very sensible public health initiative”.

‘Poor record on violent incidents’

“There are ways of making sure that pubs and clubs with poor record on violent incidents will not be able to use glass,” said Lucas.

“Nicola… a student at Leicester University, was in a nightclub in Wrexham when someone threw a bottle across the room and it smashed, cutting her face open.

“She had quite a few stitches to her face but happily she has recovered quite well.

“But she was motivated and raised the issue of why plastic bottles were not used in bars and clubs.

“I was moved by listening to her passion on the subject so I have supported her.”

Lucas introduced his Plastic Glasses and Bottles (Mandatory Use) motion last Tuesday (4 September), using the 10-minute rule, a method commonly used by backbenchers to introduce legislation.

A date of 26 October was set for its second reading. The bill received an unopposed first reading but is unlikely to make further progress due to lack of parliamentary time.

He said he wanted to suggest that more action was taken to make clubs and bars use plastic bottles whenever they can to prevent similar accidents happening.

“My feeling is that there are various alternatives to glass available now,” said Lucas.

“They are much less dangerous. These kinds of incidents will happen with glass.”

‘A stupid solution’

Conservative MP for Shipley Philip Davies said that he opposed the Bill.

He said: “Whenever there is a problem, Labour members always seems to believe that the solution is to ban something or ban somebody from doing something—that is the only solution they look for.

“Unfortunately, however, that is like saying that because there are so many accidents and people die each year on the roads, we should ban cars. This Bill is as stupid a solution to the problem we are discussing as banning cars would be to reducing road traffic accidents.

“There is no doubt that the desire to reduce the number of people who suffer horrific injuries as a result of thugs who use glass bottles as weapons is admirable, but the answer to the problem does not lie in the Bill.

“First, the practicalities involved in banning glasses and glass bottles mean that such a measure would be virtually impossible to implement across the country. It may be easy to control the use of glasses, but what would happen to wine, champagne, beer or coke bottles?

“Will they be banned from the premises in case somebody gets their hands on them? What about glass tables—are we going to get rid of those too?

“There are all sorts of dangerous things in pubs and clubs. Places that serve food have knives and forks, with which a terrible amount of damage can be done.”

‘Design out crime’

Davies also said that he applauded campaigners who highlight the problem of ‘glassing’ and commended the existence of projects such as Design Out Crime, which tries to promote new thinking and good design ideas to reduce crime, including alternatives to glasses.

He explained: “Given that, I do not believe there should be any moves towards mandating people to use plastic glasses and bottles in all cases, as the Bill seeks. I support the voluntary measures, but, more importantly, I support much tougher sentences for those who perpetrate such terrible and horrific crimes to ensure that they cannot be let out to commit them again. For those reasons, I oppose the Bill.”