Kolkata Bars asked to keep spare drivers to drive drunken customers

The police also asked bar-owners to take assistance of cab aggregators like Ola, Uber etc for putting an organised structure in place.

Kolkata, May 6: Bar-owners in the metropolis will now have to keep breath analysers ready and a pool of spare drivers to drive drunken customers back home.

The directive was given by the city police during a meeting at Lalbazar police headquarter with about 30 major bars/restaurants/clubs who frequently sought permission for late closing of their premises (for serving liquor) beyond midnight.

Additional Commissioner of Police(I) Vineet Goyal told PTI, "In order to assist the police in preventing/ curbing the menace of drunk driving and road-safety, these establishments were directed to keep breath-analyzers in their premises and get potential drunk drivers tested before they leave the premise."

"They were asked to keep a pool of spare drivers to drive the customers, found unsuitable for driving as per permissible limits, back home," he said. The police also asked bar-owners to take assistance of cab aggregators like Ola, Uber etc for putting an organised structure in place.

"Those establishments were given 15 days time to implement the directive. Late-closing permissions may not be accorded in the event of non-compliance of the directive. The process will gradually be extended to the remaining bars/ clubs/ restaurants serving liquor," Goyal said.

PTI