Attn: party people.
If you plan on knocking a few back in Sydney this weekend, careful you don’t become that guy too quickly; you might just end up in an alluring single cell—or, “drunk tank”—with Police hovering around and giving lectures on how you probably should have known better.
Rolling out this week in an initiative brought on by NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell, the Daily Telegraph eloquently claims, “boozed-up yobs will be hauled off the streets”.
A sobering up centre at Central Local courts will boast luxurious cells to hold the 10 Most Munted for 4 hours, in an attempt to curb them from shouting racial slurs and tongueing anything that moves in sight. I guess it’s one alternative to eating a kebab under a cold shower.
Drunk tank detainees will also be forced to pay a fine between $200-$800 depending on their familiarity with the cells: drunk tank virgins will owe $200, sophomores will owe $400; third time visitors will have to pay $600, and if you (impressively) manage to get in there 4 times or more, you’ll have to pay up $800. It’s like the least glamorous five star hotel you’ve never willingly checked in to.
A drunk tank in Woolongong—where there were 437 alcohol related assaults in 2012—is set to open later this year.
We’ll see if the drunk tanks accidentally turn in to Sydney’s most exclusive, boozed up party—throwing ten wasted strangers (soon to be best mates) in close proximity might not be the intended outcome from the NSW State Government.
