Post GCSE hols to Newquay - parents buying booze??

[BrianCoxhasSmellySox]

DM link

Before I get on my high horse, due to me not yet being the parent of a teen (but having been a very alcohol-orientated teen)...

My understanding is that these children are allowed to go to Newquay without supervision, the adults buy the alcohol and presumably pay for the trip (I know some teens have jobs but surely a Saturday job isn't going to cover a week away?)

Left unsupervised, all hell breaks loose and the Police, NHS and Local Authority are left to pick up the pieces.

Makes me question the parenting abilities somewhat.

got on my high horse after all

Or am I missing something?

YANBU.

its carnage, DH went on one of these with his school friends! I wouldn't be happy for DS to go, the aim is to drink so much you end up in hospital

I can't be too high and mighty about teens drinking, as I did it at every given opportunity.

My parents would have absolutely killed me had they known though and they didn't give me money for it (I went without lunch and saved up my bus money!!)

Not that my experience is a 'good' example, I look back and shudder...especially as I am now the proud parent of an 8 year old daughter who will one day be a teenager....oh dear me!

The thing that got me is there is no comeback for these teens and in my mind, there shouldn't be, it should lay at the feet of the parents who allow and enable this to happen.

Ignorance can't be used as an excuse on the parent's part as I instantly think 'drunken shit hole' when I read/hear about Newquay. I am sure it isn't a shit hole btw, I adore Cornwall, but the idea of venturing there and not being under the age of 18 doesn't appeal.

I'm amazed the hoteliers are daft enough to rent rooms out to unaccompanied teens - they wouldn't do that 30 years ago when we wanted to go at 18-20 age.... lots of restrictions on no single sex groups, no groups without adult supervision (where U18s).
Parents know that underage drinking goes on, but that's a thousand miles away, surely from fuelling it yourself ?

when DS went it was a caravan park they stayed in, a single sex group

sounds like hell, think from the hoteliers and site owners POV, the rep of Newquay is such that no nice quiet holidayers will touch it with a barge pole anymore so the young groups are their only customers?

it sounds HORRIBLE! unconsious vomit covered bodies abandoned by their friends everywhere

The article mentioned parents being seen unloading the car including alcohol - but to me, even if they haven't fuelled it themselves (ie bought the alcohol) they know what Newquay 'is', they know what unsupervised 16 year old hyper-beasts will want to do with their freedom - get drunk, dance, have lots of fun, ignore any adult they may encounter and do everything within their power to snog the nearest, willing 16 year old or was that just me at that age? pretty much sums up my nights out now

monkeymoma - urgh!

It's hard, really the hoteliers need to make a stance BUT the period between clearing the vomit-strewn-lovelies from the street, reclaiming Newquay as a decent town and getting another clientele interested, they'd be out of business in a jot.

At the same time though, if they are going to accommodate the groups they are partially to blame. Bit of a vicious circle.

I do not try and snog 16 year olds

Need to re-read my comments!!!!

YANBU that is exactly what happens. I have no idea why any parent would let their child do this. There is no excuse IMO.

I have seen it first hand; live in Truro so not a million miles away. Some of these children are younger than 16 and all hell breaks loose. When something serious happens (and it does, EVERY year), the parents pop up on the news blaming the local authorities. Er... HELLO?! You sent your child on an unsupervised holiday with their peers, and provided money, accommodation and booze. What did you think was going to happen?

I feel sorry for the children whose parents clearly don't give a purple fuck about them. At 18 is one thing; but there is a world of difference between a 16 and an 18 year old. The law, for a start.

The brother of one of DD's friends went to Newquay to celebrate the end of his GCSE's and was killed falling over a cliff when drunk. He was the second teenager to be killed that week, and it's only a matter of time before there's another

monkeymama no it is a bit of a stag and hen party town; I'm not saying it's a paradise on earth.

Even more reason to not send your 16yo CHILD with no supervision/help 100's of miles away to a place overrun with drunken idiots.

rusty I heard about that. There have been several drink related incidents involving underage children

I went post-A Levels back in the day (14 years ago-ish). The girls booked into a hotel and the boys were on a caravan site which was out of town but provided a bus into the centre.

It was carnage even back then. I'm sure some of our group were 16-ish and they had no problems getting served etc. I seem to remember spending about £500 in just one week. It was Boardmasters week do we spent all day on the beach and all night in the Sailors Arms or other rancid clubs.

(Very happy memories though despite all that)

All these incidents, deaths etc, they are all in the news. There is no excuse.

Why don't these parents say 'no'?

There are alternatives to celebrating the end of your exams, there are other ways of getting the feeling of freedom.

Until the parents are prepared to stand up and say 'you are not going there' and the hoteliers are willing to impose strict rules 'no groups' 'no unsupervised under 18's etc, the authorities are going to have to be there to pick up the pieces and ultimately be blamed when something goes wrong.

It's very sad.

Aren't the parents responsible? Shouldn't they be prosecuted for supplying / encouraging the booze? What about hoteliers and campsite owners also being forced to uphold the law regarding alcohol? Pity the poor locals.

You're not missing something. None of my dds will be encouraged to drink to excess in any form at any time. That's the effect working in a hospital can have on you.

rose a good number of them head away from the hotels and onto the parks and beaches and secluded car parks, of which there are MANY. Devon and Cornwall Police are one of the smallest forces covering the largest areas in the UK. They can't be everywhere.

You are always going to get unsavoury types who will happily sell/provide alcohol to underage children, the same as you'll always find someone to sell you drugs.

I've heard of kids being searched as they go into the b&b; so they smuggle in alcohol in water bottles, shampoo bottles, McDonald's drinks cups, Dad brings in a box wrapped up as a present which actually contains alcohol. It all happens. Unbelievable, but true.

I cannot believe the parents that allow their children to do this, and support their underage drinking. We occasionally pop to Newquay (ds likes the aquarium) and a good majority of the kids are well spoken, nicely dressed groups who look young and completely out of their depth they just seem to jolly each other along, not wanting to look like the 'loser'