Sunday 12 July 2009

Newquay's bad press

It is always sad when somebody young dies, as they have recently in Newquay as a result of too much alcohol and unawarenss of the how dangerous the cliff-tops are. However, it is unfair that Newquay is getting all of the blame for this accident, and many facts are not being reported.

Newquay is being portrayed in the press as a place where no clubs ask for ID and where drink is easy to get hold of. This is simply not true. Newquay has a very strict no ID no entry policy: if the clubs get caught letting underage people in then they are, potentially, out of business, which isn’t an option for a seasonal town.

Newquay’s off-licences also have a strict ID policy. In some of the shops the bottles of drinks are tagged so that if an underage person is caught with a drink it can be traced back to the store, or traced back to the person who bought it for them, using CCTV.

The police are constantly patrolling the town to try and stop underage drinking.

In my experience of working at a campsite that does accept 16 year-olds, the parents are often the ones that provide the drink. Of course this is not all parents, but a lot of them did. Some tragedies are going to occur when children are left to their own devices, especially with alcohol.

Possible solutions? Places in Newquay shouldn’t accept under 18s, as there isn’t anywhere for them to go in the town. Or if they do continue to accommodate under 18s then they should be made more aware of the fatal mix of darkness, the cliffs and alcohol. And finally, and most importantly, parents should try and take more responsibility.