Stag night revellers could face bill for help

REVELLERS flocking to Majorca for a boozy stag or hen party may sober up quickly in the future if they find themselves landed with an 84 pound an hour bill for consular time if they turn to the British embassy for help, a parliamentary report warned yesterday. The hefty charge for services like replacing lost passports or tracking down hotels and lost companions is an effort to get tough on what the report calls the “appalling” behaviour of some British tourists. Low-cost flights and the growing popularity of boozy holidays in resort areas such as Majorca and eastern European capitals like Prague and Bratislava, have led to a sharp increase in the numbers of often drunken party-goers turning to the local embassy for help. But in 2004/05, of the 84'000 so-called assisted Foreign Office (FCO) cases, only 323 were charged the 84.50 pounds “call out” charge. “FCO consular staff increasingly have to deal with the appalling results of British tourists carousing abroad,” said Public Accounts Committee chairman Edward Leigh in the report. “Where our nationals have landed themselves in trouble as a result of their own irresponsibility, the FCO should not hesitate to charge them for its services,” he added. The number of overseas visits by Britons increased by six percent to 65 million in 2004-2005, with a further 13 million living abroad, the report said. It estimated that 70 percent of hen and stag nights now take place abroad, with Majorca, Prague, Barcelona and Bratislava proving the most popular. MPs on the committee blamed an increase in Britons' bad behaviour abroad on the growing number of no-frills airlines offering cheap flights. “Low prices open the market to more individuals and groups who are often looking to celebrate,” said committee member Kitty Ussher.
The Prague embassy reported stag night revellers now count for one in seven lost passports. “It would certainly concentrate the minds of people in stag parties if they thought they were going to be charged ... for getting lost and having to be rescued by the consulate,” said committee member, Ian Davidson.