KIDDERMINSTER magistrates have become the first in the country to ban a person from licensed premises and off-licences across England and Wales.

Laura Hall, 20, of Bromsgrove, was given a Drinking Banning Order yesterday.

The DBO will last for two years and prohibits her from consuming alcohol or purchasing alcohol in pubs, nightclubs, membership clubs or hotels, and from purchasing alcohol in shops and off licences.

It also bans her from having alcohol in any unsealed container or consuming alcohol in any public place. The conditions apply throughout England and Wales.

The order also requires her to undertake an approved course to tackle her alcohol-misuse issues.

The DBO could be lifted after one year providing she has completed this course and has not breached any conditions of the order.

Police applied for the DBO after Hall was involved in numerous alcohol-related public order offences in and around the Bromsgrove area.

DBOs were introduced by the Home Office in September 2009 as a measure to prevent known individuals who are causing alcohol-related disorder from entering specified licensed premises.

The aim of a DBO is to deter the type of behaviour that disrupts communities and ruins lives while forcing the offender to face up their actions and start to make positive changes.

Sergeant David Roberts from Bromsgrove police said: “We chose to use this new legislation as a way of helping address Laura’s offending behaviour and we very much hope that rather than seeing it as a punishment, she will use it as an opportunity to get her life back on track.”

PC Neil Sharpe, Licensing Officer for Redditch and Bromsgrove, added: “A Drinking Banning Order is a powerful and far-reaching tool for tackling alcohol-related disorder and we will not hesitate to apply for further DBOs where we feel they could make a difference within our local communities.

“We hope that others with drink-related issues will take note of this.”