Licencees are also supported with advice and information to give them the ability to protect themselves from selling to under 18s. This includes training material for staff, signage and how to use “Challenge 25”.
Challenge 25 is a scheme where staff are trained to challenge anyone who looks under 25 to prove they are actually 18 or older. The licensed premises who do sell to under 18s and who do not take their responsibility seriously can be prosecuted or have their alcohol license reviewed. This could lead to the removal of their alcohol license with them being unable to sell alcohol at all.
Fake IDs
Reducing the number of fake IDs being used by under 18s to gain access to premises on a night out is another initiative led by out Trading Standards team. It’s not unusual for passports and driving licenses to be borrowed by under 18s from over 18 year old friends or siblings and then offered to door staff.
Trading standards and North Wales Police have worked with premises so that door staff now retain documents where they suspect the document is not in the possession of the person to whom it belongs. Retained documents are passed to Trading Standards who will then make contact with the legitimate holder to arrange a meeting to discuss their actions and possible impact of engaging in what is, in fact identity fraud. Since launching the initiative, the incidents of use of false ID has dropped significantly.
1 in 20 deaths linked to alcohol
In Wales, approximately 1500 deaths are linked to alcohol consumption each year. This is 1 in 20 of all deaths. Alcohol is frequently involved with hospital admissions and is very often a factor in violent crime incidents, including domestic violence.
Drinking in children and young people remains a particular concern with 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 7 girls aged 11-16 drinking alcohol at least once a week. Around 400 young people under 18 are admitted for alcohol-specific conditions per year, although the rate has been decreasing for several years.
Protecting children from harm is therefore a priority for the Council’s Public Protection Service. Trading Standards works closely with partners, including the Licensing Service and North Wales Police to restrict access to alcohol by under 18s.
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This article is written as part of our 12 days to a safer Christmas in Wrexham campaign
If you are venturing out in Wrexham over the festive season we want to make sure you have a memorable night – for the right reasons. Take a look at our top tips to help make sure your night out is a safe and enjoyable one.
Tip 1: Don’t load up on drinks at home
It may seem like a great idea to have a few drinks at home before your night out. You may think that it could save you money and make you more relaxed, but drinking too much at home before a night out can ultimately cut your night short. People who drink at home before going out tend to lose track of how much they have had to drink and end up getting more drunk than they had planned. This can often make you more likely to:
Suffer illness due to excessive alcohol intake, including vomiting, which can bring your night to an unpleasant end
Be involved in a fight
Be injured from falling
Become more vulnerable
Tip 2: Look out for the Best Bar None signs
When you walk into a licenced premises and see this sign, it means you have just stepped inside a best bar none (BBN) Wrexham accredited venue. Every BBN venue has put their premises to the test to prove just how committed they are to keeping you safer on your night out.
Tip 3: Eat before drinking
Make sure you eat before you go out. Food soaks up alcohol, slowing it down before it enters the bloodstream. It will provide more energy and lessen the effects the next day.
It takes up to an hour for your body to process each unit of alcohol. So have a break between drinks. Skinny, short, male, female… everyone copes with alcohol differently, so why try and keep up with your mates? Save face (and money) by sticking to smaller rounds with a couple of mates or avoid them altogether. Turning down a drink is much less embarrassing than throwing one up.
Finish your drink too quickly and you’ll feel pressured to get another. Instead, make your drink (and your night) last longer. Chat, sip, snack, drink water, get some fresh air and chat some more.
Tip 5 : Look out for your mates
For a great night, you want your mates to be on top form too. So getting snacks and a jug of water for the table could be good for everyone. Look out for each other in case someone’s getting ahead of themselves. If they are, grab them some water or a soft drink from the bar and encourage them to pace themselves. You don’t want to have to put them in a cab, clean their sick from your shoes or miss out on the night by having to take them home.
Tip 6 : Sticking together
Make sure you leave the pub or club in pairs or as a group. If someone’s disappeared don’t assume they’re ok, find out for sure. Don’t leave anyone behind. It’s not just women who need to watch out – men on their own can attract trouble too. So keep a mate with you and try not to spend too much time hanging about at the end of the night.
Tip 7: There’s help at hand if you need it
If you are feeling a little too drunk, look out for Wrexham Street Pastors who provide compassionate support in the town centre and can help you. They work in partnership with police and can provide you with water and practical help if you need it.
You can also visit the Welfare Centre at Hafod y Wern. The centre is funded by Wrexham County Borough Council, the Welsh Ambulance Service and the Health Board. It is staffed by British Red Cross Personnel and offers medical assistance, a place to recover and care if you have had too much to drink, have taken illegal drugs, or are feeling vulnerable.
Tip 8: Heading home – Mine’s a pint…of water
If you stop drinking alcohol before the end of the evening and get some water in, your body can get a head start sorting itself out, which means getting home safely and better chance of a dealing with the hangover the next day. Drink a glass of water when you get home too to try to re-hydrate – you’ll thank yourself in the morning. Also you might want to give your body a few drink-free days to recover after a heavy drinking session.
Tip 9: Plan your journey home – Is your cab really a cab?
“Would you like a taxi?” Um. Depends if it really is one. Unlicensed cabbies are just blokes (usually) who go out late at night and find worse-for-wear people to drive home. As they’re not regulated, you’ve got no way of knowing if the driver or vehicle is safe. No matter how late, there’s no reason to go for a dodgy cab.
Get some numbers or apps for local cab firms stored on your phone or ask a member of staff in the venue who should have some. Make sure that you check any taxi you get into is properly licenced. All Wrexham Private Hire or Hackney Cab vehicles should be displaying white and purple coloured licence plates which should be on the outside of all vehicles.
Private hire vehicles will also have yellow adhesive signs in the rear windows.
All drivers should have an ID badge with their name, photograph, licence number and expiry date. If you can’t see it please ask to see it before you set off.
If you’ve got a long wait for a taxi, stay somewhere safe and well-lit until your cab turns up, ideally with a friend.
More Information
Anyone who wants more information about the possible harms of drinking can visit these websites:
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Many of us now recycle our leftovers in our food caddies and we’re making steady progress in Wrexham…but there’s still plenty of room for us to improve.
Lots of us take advantage of the free caddy liners and get our food caddies emptied every week, but some of us are still putting leftover food in our general waste.
The images in this article are from a recent general waste collection in Wrexham. As you can see, there’s a number of food items (and a number of other materials) that could’ve been recycled, but they weren’t.
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It’s not all doom and gloom though…many of us are making an effort to recycle food waste and our stats for this in Wrexham are getting better.
We recycled over 195 tonnes of food waste in our caddies in November, compared to just under 140 tonnes in November 2018…a 40% increase.
This isn’t a one-off either…we’re consistently recycling more food waste in 2019 than we were in 2018, but the aim is to keep improving and get even better.
Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “These figures show a solid improvement in the amount of food waste we’ve recycled in 2019, and it’s good to see that more of us do this as part of our everyday recycling.
“We’ve made an effort to let people know the many things that can be recycled in your food caddy and it proves that if we give people the information they need, many of them are happy to play their part in our recycling efforts.
“Unfortunately the images in this article show that there’s still a number of us that aren’t recycling our food waste and we strongly encourage these people to change their habits; there’s certainly many reasons why they should.
“Along with the environmental benefits, we offer free caddy liners, and by recycling food you’re freeing up space in your bins. It also helps to stop your bins from smelling from rotting food – remember your food caddy is emptied every week, your general waste isn’t!
“Thanks to everyone who recycles their food waste and to those who don’t, please get involved and play your part. We need to reach our 70% recycling target by 2025 and you can all help us achieve this.”
At the meeting of the Council, members voted to accept the appointment of Cllr John Pritchard to take a seat on the Executive Board.
Cllr Mark Pritchard, Leader of the Council said: “I have liaised with colleagues on the Executive Board and have made the following change to portfolio holders which will take immediate effect. Cllr Pritchard will take on the portfolio for Anti-Poverty and Youth Services with Cllr Andrew Atkinson moving over to Children’s Services. I know both will find the roles interesting and challenging and will be working for the benefit of all young people in Wrexham.”
Cllr John Pritchard said: “I am pleased to be joining the Executive of Wrexham Council and look forward to working with officers and members on key plans and strategies surrounding anti-poverty and youth services. They’re very important areas that include Youth Justice, Equalities, Community Safety and access to leisure and cultural activities.”
Cllr Atkinson said: “I have enjoyed working with Children’s Services and Anti-Poverty but feel it is now time to take on the challenges of the wider Children’s Services portfolio which includes child protection, health, adolescent mental health, fostering, adoption, carers, family centres and ensuring the safeguarding those who are vulnerable is at the heart of our work. Although I know there will be challenges ahead I look forward to taking on this role and to working with staff and young people involved with this service. I’m incredibly grateful to all of the officers that I have worked with for their professionalism and dedication to the County Borough.”
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The challenges saw schools from across the UK compete to design, build and pilot a four-blade, remotely-piloted drone. Students also had to customise their units to solve technological, social or economic challenges.
The Clywedog team reached the top spot for schools from Wales, and the fifth overall ranking out of all competing schools from across the UK.
Following up on their victory at the quadcopter contest, members of the team were presented with their Civic Pride Awards by Cllr Rob Walsh, the Mayor of Wrexham, in an awards ceremony at the Guildhall.
The ceremony took place shortly before the start of a meeting of the full Council on December 18.
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Door Security firms in Wrexham have contributed to the production of a Vulnerability Code. The code is designed to assist door staff in responding effectively and promptly with incidents involving vulnerable individuals.
A pocked sized version of this code has been provided to all door staff.
Supporting people on a night out
Cllr Hugh Jones, Lead Member for Communities, Partnerships, Public Protection and Community Safety said, “It is fantastic that our door supervisors are working closely with the Council as well as North Wales Police Crime Prevention Initiative to ensure that people on a night out in Wrexham are kept safe.
“The training will help door staff to recognise and support people who become vulnerable on a night out and will in turn ensure that everyone who enjoys having a night out in Wrexham has a safe night out.”
The training included raising awareness of how to help visitors to Wrexham’s night time economy who may be vulnerable due to a variety of reasons such as drinking too much alcohol, losing their friends or being underage. The training also covered being aware of the potential for sexual predators and child sexual exploitation.
Recognising signs of vulnerability
Ann Williams, North Wales Police Eastern Licensing Officer said “The code, along with the training will help support door staff to recognise signs of vulnerability and ensure persons remain safe during their night out in Wrexham”
The training was part of Wrexham Council and North Wales Police crime prevention initiative “Drink Less, Enjoy More”, which is aimed at encouraging people to have a fun and safe night out by raising awareness that people are more vulnerable when they have drunk too much alcohol and are at an increased risk of a sexual or violent assault.
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As part of the Wrexham Community Safety survey last year, the partnership asked people what would make them feel safer in the town centre. The two most popular responses were ‘high-visibility policing’ and ‘action to tackle anti-social behaviour.’
A high number of open responses throughout the survey also referred to the ‘visible vulnerable’ in Wrexham.
In response to feedback from the survey, Chief Executive Ian Bancroft, said: “It’s really encouraging that the survey indicated that most people feel safe in their homes and neighbourhoods.
“However, it’s frustrating that people maybe don’t feel as safe as they should in the town centre…because the reality is that Wrexham is a very safe place to be”.
Statistics show Wrexham is a relatively safe place compared to similar towns in the UK, with average or below-average crime rates for drug-related issues, public order offences, robbery and vehicle crime. Statistics gathered by North Wales Police on behalf of the Community Safety Partnership show a 43 per cent drop in town centre anti-social behaviour, compared with previous years.
We are continuing to work with partners and agencies across Wrexham in maintaining these positive outcomes.
As part of this ongoing work the Area Planning Board for Substance Misuse is commissioning some of the front line services to becoming more outreach focused in order to actively engage with the visible vulnerable on Wrexham’s streets. By linking them with the appropriate services they are focusing on both harm reduction and recovery, and improving outcomes for the individuals.
You may have seen the article that we recently published about the benches and bins being removed on Lord Street. This was in response to requests from the town centre multi agency group for them to be taken away because of the anti-social behaviour including drug dealing taking place in the area and the negative impact this was having on Wrexham as a whole.
Inspector Vic Powell said: “There are well planned significant partnership arrangements to identify and deal with those causing harm in our communities. The town centre policing team is tasked with, and committed to, dealing with those whose behaviour requires enforcement measures or positive interventions and I will continue to apply police resources to support the partnership’s work.”
Police are continuing to tackle and deter drug dealing and other forms of antisocial behaviour in the town by using, amongst other methods, specially trained drug scanning dogs.
Report rough sleeping
If you’re concerned about someone who could be sleeping rough, you can report it via the Street Link app – available for Android and iPhone.
Or report it directly to Wrexham Council’s Housing Options team on 01978 292947.
Reporting it can help agencies provide support to that person…potentially helping them find somewhere to sleep.
Report anti-social behaviour
By reporting criminal behaviour, you can help the police and its partners focus resources where they’re needed.
If you see anything criminal going on (including anti-social behaviour), report it to North Wales Police by calling 101 (or 999 in an emergency).
We are repeating the survey again and want to know how safe you feel when you are spending time in and around the County Borough. So we have a quick online survey available now for you to fill out.
The results of the survey will tell us how safe you feel and whether what we are doing is making a difference.
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Every year our Rangers drain the large pond at Stryt Las Park in Johnstown.
They do this to give the lake bed a good clean and remove the fish which are netted by Natural Resources Wales and relocated to another pond or a lake that needs stocking. the fish are removed to prevent them from eating the the rare and protected Great Crested Newts that live on the site.
Litter in the lake is unsightly and often dangerous to the many birds that live on the lake at Stryt Las. Traffic signs, bikes, thousands of cans and bottles and the ever present shopping trolleys have all been removed from the mud in previous years.
The ducks and swans that live on the lake at Stryt Las are free to fly to other ponds, as they often do, returning at a later date. The ranger has asked that visitors to the park do not feed the ducks. Feeding the ducks and swans encourages the birds to be less fearful of people, which makes them more vulnerable, especially to dogs, a particular problem while the lake is drained.
“Stryt Las is a Site of Special Scientific Interest”
Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “Stryt Las is a designated Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest and we are very fortunate to have such an area on our doorstep. The rangers do a great job looking after the area and regular visitors to the park will be used to this annual clean up.”
If you would like to help the rangers clean out the lake, please give the rangers a call on 01978 822780. Once the fish have been caught and the rubbish cleared the lake will be allowed to refill naturally.
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Nearly half of the Christmas tree lights that Which? bought from AliExpress, eBay and Wish were electrically unsafe and dangerous to use. While more than 90% of those we checked – including four models from Amazon Marketplace – failed to meet the standard allowing them to be lawfully sold in the UK.
Wrexham Trading Standards Officers inspected local shops, and purchased nine sets of lights. They all passed compliance tests, and they were all safe to use.
If you are looking for new Christmas lights, think carefully about safety. Buy from legitimate sources and check the product. All light sets should carry the CE mark, should include details of the manufacturer or importer and should contain full instructions. If in doubt, do not buy. If you have concerns about a light set you have bought, do not use them and contact Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 040506.
The Which? Results point to significant risk when purchasing from unknown suppliers on ebay and from international sources. Christmas tree lights that are poor quality may present a risk of fire or shock – neither of which are conducive to a Happy Christmas. Don’t play with fire, play safe and shop smart.
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