With pubs across England and Wales staying open until 1am on Wednesday night, football fans are being warned not to drive on Thursday morning if they’ve been celebrating a win (or drowning their sorrows).
Data shows that drinks sales in licensed premises were up 6% during the week to 29 June, following a 9% surge the previous week.
Sales peaked during England’s last group stage game on 25 June, with 71% more alcohol drunk compared with the same day in 2023. Consumption is expected to be even higher on semi-final day, with ‘session’ drinks such as beer and cider showing the highest growth.
“If you drink four pints of average strength beer (4% ABV) up until closing time, you won’t be clear of alcohol until about 11am,” warns Hunter Abbott, MD of personal breathalyser firm AlcoSense.
“For stronger beers, it takes even longer.
“Just a small amount of alcohol in your system slows your reaction time, inhibits judgement and reduces both concentration and co-ordination – increasing the likelihood of an accident”.
In a poll conducted by AlcoSense, over a third of us (36%) think our ability to drive is only impaired if we are actually over the legal drink drive limit.
But you are 13 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash at the English limit, research shows.
Even with 10mg per 100mL of alcohol in your blood (one eighth of the limit in England and Wales) it is 37% more likely than when completely sober.
Government figures show that during 2021, there were 740 reported drink-drive collisions during the ‘morning after’ period of 5am to 1pm. This represents 16% of all drink drive collisions that year.
“Please don’t drive your kids to school or commute to work on Thursday morning if you’ve consumed alcohol watching the game, or use a personal breathalyser to check you’re clear,” adds Hunter Abbott.
