A councillor was set to sample Colchester's nightlife at the weekend as he bids to determine what can be done to stamp out drunken violence.

Don Quinn, Labour councillor for Greenstead was taking the pro-active approach as part of his plan to to find a solution to the disorderly behaviour that occurs in the town during the early hours.

It is part of an action plan that has still to be fully determined, but which involves the council, the police and Colchester nightclubs.

Mr Quinn said on Friday: "What I really want to be able to observe is the closing times. Revellers spill out of the clubs and then they mill around for quite a while before a taxi arrives. This is when trouble starts.

"One of the plans that I want to look into is the possibilities of getting buses to arrive and pick up the clubbers and drop them off around certain areas of Colchester, such as Greenstead."

But he added: "What we must remember is that Colchester is a very safe place to be and that we do not have a major violence problem, like so many other towns. But we want to stop trouble occurring anywhere that we can."

Head of Colchester police, Dave Murthwaite, welcomed Mr Quinn's actions.

"It is great that councillors do go out and give up their time to get an idea of what we are facing."

Published Monday, March 4, 2002