Drink-drive warning brought home to shoppers (From The Oxford Times)

Drink-drive warning brought home to shoppers

6:40am Sunday 13th December 2009

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Visitors to Marriotts Walk, Witney, next Saturday will be able to see for themselves the impact of a car crash caused through drink-driving.

Members from the West Oxfordshire Safer Communities Partnership will be holding an awareness day to show shoppers the devastating result of driving under the influence of drink or drugs.

Jill Dunsmore, cabinet member with responsibility for Communities said: “Each year the Safer Communities Partnership focuses on an issue over the festive period.

"Previous years have included underage drinking and anti-social behaviour and this year we have chosen drink driving, which ties in with Thames Valley Police’s Force-wide drink drive campaign.] "We will be working with our partners Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue to get a crashed car from this type of accident to highlight the issue to people.

“Our awareness day on December 19 will hopefully remind people not to forget this important message amidst the festivities.

"We’re not saying people shouldn’t drink and enjoy themselves over Christmas and New Year, we’re just asking them to leave their car at home and use alternative transport.”

Seventeen drivers were arrested for drink-driving over the Christmas and New Year period in West Oxfordshire last year.

The team will use the mobile police station to hand out crime reduction advice and road safety related merchandise. The day will also be used to highlight the importance of bike security and the neighbourhood team will be offering free security marking.

Inspector Mark Johns said: “We have seen a very slight increase in cycle theft over the past year in Witney, which is why we are urging people to take sensible precautions over the Christmas holidays.

"The last thing we want to see is Christmas being ruined for people because they’ve been the victims of crime.

“If you have to leave your bike, make sure you’ve got a decent lock and that it’s locked to something secure and ideally in a public area.

“Parents need to ensure their children are aware of how and where they should be locking their bikes — after all we wouldn’t want to see any new Christmas presents being stolen.

“We would urge people to come down to this event and get their bikes security marked. This is a great way of ensuring that should your bike get stolen we are able to easily identify it, and it helps us to prosecute the thieves.”

The mobile police station will be open from 9.30am on Saturday, December 19.

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