Britain’s biggest nightclub operator vowed to tackle the issue of drink-related violence yesterday by introducing plastic glasses throughout its venues over the next 12 months.

The decision by Luminar, which runs about 120 of the UK’s biggest dancing venues, including the Liquid and Oceana chains, comes as the rest of the pub industry is stepping up attempts to stop police introducing glass bans.

The trade paper The Morning Advertiser has this week called on MPs to sign an early day motion opposing moves by police forces across the country to force pubs and clubs to replace glasses with polycarbonate containers.

The MP John Grogan, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, said: “We are calling for a sensible approach rather than a blanket ban. Banning glass is the wrong way to attract a wide and diverse set of customers.”

Alcohol awareness campaigners claimed recently that a typical glassing incident costs the NHS £184,000 to deal with, before the cost of a police investigation is added to the equation.

In a recent meeting with senior figures from the Bar Entertainment & Dance Association (BEDA), Chris Allison, licensing spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, stated his support for the introduction of polycarbonates as a means of preventing glass injuries.

Nathan Wall, operations director at JD Wetherspoon, who attended the BEDA meeting, said: “There’s a philosophical difference between us and the police. They are of the view that one glass injury is one too many, but ultimately we have to consider that we are punishing the vast majority.”

He said that Mr Allison had tried to argue that drinkers were happy to use polycarbonates, but he insisted: “Everything we’ve seen suggest that the general public hates that idea.”

The British Beer & Pub Association has argued that polycarbonates should be introduced only after a risk assessment showed that they were needed for public safety.

But Stephen Thomas, the chief executive of Luminar, said: “I think the pub trade are completely and utterly wrong. They’re talking nonsense. Country pubs and food-led venues are a different matter. But as a liquor-led business with a high footfall, why wouldn’t you be in favour of polycarbonates?” He said that the company expected that the move would reduce its insurance premiums as it would no longer be liable for claims from women taking their shoes off on the dance-floor and cutting their feet on broken glass.

He said that the latest generation of polycarbonate glasses were of good quality and Luminar would switch to them over the next 12 months, amounting to some 300,000 glasses. All bottled drinks would be poured into plastic glasses unless they too were made of polycar-bonate.

Luminar yesterday reported further progress in its turn-around, with full-year profits before tax and exceptionals from continuing operations rising by 11 per cent to £26.7 million. It said that like-for-like sales in its core branded dancing ventures had risen by 7.3 per cent since the year end on March 1.

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