Father, 40, who was so drunk he was 'staggering and dribbling' while in charge of a toddler at a bowling alley avoids jail

A father who was so drunk he was ‘staggering and dribbling’ while in charge of a toddler in a public place has avoided jail.

Worse-for-wear Luke Rippingale, 40, was seen clutching a pint at a bowling alley while the two-year-old girl was left crying on the floor and wearing no nappy.

He was arrested after concerned staff contacted police. Checks revealed he had been refused entry at a pub because he was so drunk.

The MOT garage owner admitted being drunk in charge of a child under the age of seven at a previous hearing where prosecutor Nicola Lamb told magistrates: ‘He was staggering around and dribbling and he had left the child on the floor. He beckoned the child to him but she refused to leave and was upset.

‘The manager was so concerned that they called the police, who took both him and the child into custody.’

Rippingale, a father-of-two, had been drinking with a friend in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on August 20 and was heading home to Ely in Cambridgeshire when he decided to continue boozing while waiting for a connecting train in Norwich.

Norwich Magistrates Court heard he was refused entry to the Queen of Iceni pub and ended up at the city’s Hollywood Bowl.

‘Very foolishly, he had not waited at the train station,’ Ms Lamb added.

‘He was clearly under the influence at the time when he should have been looking after the child. There is absolutely nothing more he can say other than to apologise. He takes full responsibility.’

The charge carries a maximum one-month jail term and magistrates had warned Rippingale that ‘all options’ were open when they adjourned the case in September for a pre-sentence report.

He returned to the court today(WED) where he was given a one-year community order with alcohol abstinence monitoring until March 4 next year and 15 days of rehabilitation activity. He was also fined £230, with costs of £105 and victim surcharge of £114.

Rippingale was not available to comment afterwards and his mother Sally, 73, revealed she had been left in the dark about the incident.

‘I don’t know much about it. He hasn’t told me anything,’ she told the Mail.

But a friend, who asked not to be named, said: ‘He’ll have learned his lesson. It’s embarrassing and something to move on from as quickly as possible. We all make mistakes.’

Being drunk in charge of a child under the age of seven is illegal under the 1902 Licensing Act, although prosecutions are rare and cases are usually passed to social services.

The law states that a maximum £500 fine or up to a month in jail can be imposed if ‘any person is found drunk in any highway or other public place, or on any licensed premises, while having the charge of a child’.

There is no specific alcohol limit, with the legal threshold being whether the adult’s ability to look after the child is compromised.

An online debate about the law was sparked in 2020 when a Wetherspoons pub in Gravesend, Kent, put up a poster saying parents with children on the premises were limited to two alcoholic drinks.

The poster stated: ‘As part of our licensing it is our responsibility to ensure that we are protecting children from harm.

‘Therefore adults in charge of children will be allowed to have one alcoholic drink and a further alcoholic drink with a sit-down meal.’

Wetherspoons admitted the pub chain had a ‘guideline – though not a policy’ of limiting adults to two alcoholic drinks if they were with children.

A spokesman said: ‘The manager took the decision to put the poster in the pub to emphasise to customers that she would not allow parents to drink while their children were running around uncontrolled in the pub.’