Seems like the police are really going to go ahead with this crackdown on drinking on trains and in public on Saturday.

My brother-in-laws brother is a cop for Strathclydes finest and is being punted up to Aberdeen tonight, put up in a hotel and being sent back down tomorrow to Glasgow on a train expected to be full of Scotland fans. He has been told not to confiscate any alcohol but to issue on the spot fines of £40. They are also to be issued with the dip test sticks for soft drink bottles and been told to use them on ALL passengers.

We have heard the reports a few times from Strathclyde Police but it seems this time they are really going to crack down on it.

Hopefully no-one gets caught out as £40 on top of an already expensive day would be a kick in the sack.

I'm heading in by bus from a local pub so I just hope that we dont get a stop and search or it could get messy!

Cheers Mitch,

Although it does seem a shame to be confiscating alcolhol from the fans as in previous games including previous qualification campaigns I have never really seen any trouble........are the Tartan Army not supposed to be the best behaved fans in the world or did I miss something somewhere??

An 'On the Spot' fine of 40 notes would be painful.

Does your copper friend know the reason behind this crackdown and will it form part of the remaining home games in the group? Is this a pilot scheme they are testing?

Anyway on a lighter note..........Scotland 2-1 Norway 'Maloney & McFadden' 'Don't Care'.

Cheers

The Goose

Not had a chance to speak to him to be honest. Just received a call from my brother in law giving me the warning. I will try and give him a buzz and find out.

They wont be confiscating alcohol which means you could build up some amount of £40 fines on a train journey from Aberdeen to Glasgow.

I am going to stay a bit more sensible than normal at this match to suss out exactly what level of drunkness the police are cracking down on.

Hopefully this doesnt effect the atmosphere on Saturday and we can roar the lads on to a fine win!

There are genuine crimes being committed the length and breadth of Scotland every day and the police are spending hundreds of pounds sending coppers to Aberdeen to infiltrate Tartan Army trains in case anyone sneaks on with a can of lager !!

Aye - they really have their priorities spot on in this country don't they.

They`ll be out in force on the roads also.Stopping buses on all routes and searched.Any drink found will be confiscated,bus organiser,company and person whos drink it is fined.Two check points coming from the East are prior to crossing the Forth Bridge and the Kincardine Bridge.Surely there resources would be better utilised catching real crooks.Maybe by stopping buses and catching drinkers is a way of them hitting their targets.

I have to say that I personally think it's about time they cracked down on this. I go to the home games and i'm through in Glasgow early doors for a few pints which I thoroughly enjoy and think is perfectly acceptable. You do however get people who are absolutely shit faced by mid-day and can ruin the day for others. Last year at the Italy game for example there were people sleeping during the game and a guy a couple of rows in front of me was spewing his ringer. What sort of enjoyment can you possibly get from being absolutely cunted at a football game?

Most of the fans who'll be banned from drinking on public transport will no doubt be in Glasgow for opening time anyway so they'll have more than enough time to partake in a shandy or two. If you can't enjoy the day without drinking a bottle of Buckie at 8 in the morning then you're probably a bit of a tramp.

In some ways I think this a total waste of time and police resources.

However, there has been a marked increase in the "only here fur the bevvy" brigade and this may be a wee shot accross the bows for them.

What will be interesting is if they repeat this for the next Old Firm tie...

I'd love to know what grounds the police have for enforcing this so-called "crackdown".

The last time there's been any bother at a home international was the England game, where folk would have been fighting even if they were restricted to Irn Bru.

There will be a shitload of bother all over the country on Saturday which is totally unrelated to the fitba, yet Stratchyde Polis and the BTP think it worthwhile to spunk taxpayers' dosh on this.

Get tae f'ck.

Thats the polis fault for letting these eejits into the ground in the first place.I watched a guy at the Italy game get refused entry at one turnstile due to being bladdered only to mingle with the crowd and move to another turnstile where he got in



Agree




Agree



Doubtful.A different law for them

Just do what I do and buy bucky from spar accross the road from hampen.

It is ok for me as I live 2 mins from the stadium. But don't drink on the train just get your booze from SPAR and come up to ma house!

I will have the scotland tunes blaring

or failing that fill up your bottles from barrs with vodka,and spray air freshner on the bottle to take away the scent.

I'm only 40 mins by train so i will be in pub by 11.30.Plenty of time.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the alcohol awareness week. I quite enjoy a drink or two on the way through to Glasgow on the train, but it's no big deal to me if I have to wait untill I get to Glasgow. As mentioned above, I don't know why they are cracking down on it now.

Isn't it already illegal to drink on trains at a certain time on a Saturday?

I'm sure the Edinburgh to Glasgow line I have been on at weekends bans the booze on Saturday afternoons.

It would help if our culture didn't promote alcoholism as heroic. The buck stops at every one of us.

If there's a big football or rugbly game on in either city, that's usually the case. I had a whole two cans of lager on me boarding a train to Edinburgh for the rugby last year, which was confiscated.

Having a wee cargo on the train is one of life's great pleasures. Tis a shame for the polis to stop that.

Whether you agree with the rules or not, they are pretty clear, so if you get a fine for drinking on the train on Saturday then it's your own fault and you shouldn't moan about it.

Going to be murder getting the train at seven from Stranraer, don't think they'll be any police untill we hit Ayr though. Taking drink off people and fining them is going to cause more trouble than anything else.

If you can't go on a train without drinking then you are a bit of a moron. I honestly do not understand why some people get so fucked before Scotland games (or club games)

What a lot of drivel.

Am in total agreement. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a prude and I'll usually have a couple of pints when I meet up with my mates before a Scotland game. I just don't get the "lets get hammered on Bucky at 8am" mentality though.

People also have to remember that public transport is exactly that. There will be normal folk and young families using trains and guys drinking can be very intimidated - even when it is all good natured.

I have to admit, I used to be one of those people who would start drinking early on a longish away trip (Montrose, Elgin, Berwick) but when I hit 18 or 19, I realised there was little point in it. For a 'big' away game like Cowden I will probably drink in the train on the way there, but want to enjoy my night out in Edinburgh after it so will not go overboard.

The amount of people you see outside and inside Hampden totally wrecked beyond belief is worryingly high. I don't see too much of a problem with people having 5 or 6 pints ( or whatever it takes them to get a bit drunk) before a match, but in a pub you tend to drink at a slower rate than when you are firing down cans/spirits on a train.

They have been quite clear about the crackdown on Saturday, so no one can have any complainst if they get a fine on the train. If you need to be wasted to sing and create a brilliant atmosphere at a vital qualifier, then you are probably a complete twat who I;d prefer wasn't there in the first place.

Intimidating.

Aye. That too!

Dont make tempting offers like that. I know where you stay lol

I plan on hitting the pub at opening time so im not that bothered about drinking on the train anyway. The train from my bit to Glasgow is ony 15 minutes anyway. Ive had cans confiscated en route to Mount Florida before so ive just decided not to take them on the train anymore - not worth gettin them swiped.

I would guess that part of the reason for this is because Glasgow was like the fucking Wild West after the Scotland Italy game - I saw more barneys in 1 night than in all the other Saturday nights out I've had in Glasgow put together.

Different feeling about that game altogether though, We had just failed to qualify and the evening kickoff didn't help.

Was Italy game not a 3pm kick off. Seems a long time ago so not absolutely sure. France home game had 5 pm kick off did it not?

Italy was 5 as well im sure. The sky was certainly dark at the start of the game.

Yeah it was a totally different situation - that's not to say it isn't the cause of this police crackdown though.

Aye Italy game was an evening KO.

It does seem a little over the top from the Police but think people are right in saying it probably is a reaction to the incidents after the Italy match.

I'll be in the pubs prior to kick-off anyway and pretty sure I can go without a drink during the 15min walk to Hampden.

On the spot fines? I thought it was legal to drink alcohol on a train?

Usually they enforce a ban near the ground, but a blanket ban? Or have i missed an actual change in the law?

There's already a blanket ban on public drinking anywhere in Glasgow, i've seen neds issued with on the spot fines in kelvingrove park before.

There has also been a law prohibiting the consumption of alcohol on trains to a sporting event for quite some time now.

5pm right enough.

is the polis dippind their sticks into people's drinks not a tad unhygienic?

Usually have a few cans on the way up, nothing serious though. Never have any on the train to Mount Florida anyway. Not sure what the situation will be between Dumfries and Glasgow. It is usually chaos on the way home, lights ripped down etc.

You`ve obviously not been out after an OF game then.

Sorry whats wrong with a couple of cans on the way up? Don't go to get hammerd, we have a few tins get up there go get a big lunch and go out to Pandora and party. Hardly drink in there coz we're to busy taking in the atmosphere and singing. Not the actions of a moron.

12 Ruel St perchance?

You might be sensible with your drinks (I don't know if you are), but some people are not. These are the people who the anger should be aimed at, not the police.

Now that you know it is illegal to drink on the train on Saturday, as it has been on the day of all the Scotland games in recent memory, surely you are able to stick to the soft drinks until you get to the pub.

Is this actually the case? Does this just go for Scotland games?

An excellent point. Shame that others have to suffer because of the scum of society who jumped on the Scotland bandwagon for that day.

THe police can make any train they see fit alcohol free due to an event being on, they have done it with Scotland v ENgland at Murrayfield, they did it for QoS v Aberdeen cup semi last year, they do it for Scotland home games. Never been on a train on these days so don't know how effective it usually is.

I concur that is most likely in reaction to what happened after the Italy game. It wasn't just Glasgow either as I recall stories of bother all over and saw a bit of trouble up here in Aberdeen. The late kick off certainly didn't help but the occasion seemed too much for some people. They are indeed fannies.


On the topic of having beers on the train, I'm a fan. It's cheap and means that I don't spend as much in the pub when we get to the town/city where we're playing. Dundee especially is good, and on a couple of occasions we have had the pleasure of meeting East Fife fans (who were coming back from Montrose) and having a good drink with them, as well as singing anti Rovers songs together! Great bunch of lads.

I assume they don't bother themselves with trains in the Highland League area, which is all I'm concerned about.

Generally nowhere near as bad. And I don't really think you have a point other than not liking the 'OF' do you? Certainly not one to do with the thread.

Add that to lifting and charging a wee Accies fan for shouting Tatty Muncher last week. This sounds suspiciously like a "let's get the coffers filled up,who is an easy target" scenario.

I stopped going to Scotland games partly because of the chunts who always got bladdered and wasted it for others.Two World Cups and the problem wasn't as bad as now.I don't see the atraction of getting blootered at 8am,but the guys with a few cans on the train,playing cards,having a laugh are suffering for the irresponsible minority.

Country going to pot.Where's Harry Roberts these days,mi amigo.Revenue collecting.

The trains are already going to be arsed cos of the works at Edinburgh so if they're stopping busses on all the motorways people are going to miss kick off on account of this pish.

Some trains are dry some aren't, we certainly got no trouble from the cops for a 10am sesh on the train to Perth last year. In fact they stopped and had a bit of banter with us.