Football fans celebrating a win or drowning their sorrows following the England v. Netherlands match are being warned of the dangers of ‘morning after’ drink driving.

Infographic shows estimated time for alcohol to clear your system

With pubs across England and Wales staying open until 1am on Wednesday night in the wake of the Euros semi-final, football fans are urged not to head behind the wheel if there’s a chance they’re still over the limit the next day.

“If you drink four pints of average strength beer (4% ABV) up until closing time, you won’t be clear of alcohol until about 11am,” warned Hunter Abbott, MD of personal breathalyser firm AlcoSense.

“For stronger beers, it takes even longer.

“Just a small amount of alcohol in your system slows a driver’s reaction time, inhibits judgement and reduces concentration – increasing the likelihood of a road accident.”

Drinks sales in licensed premises have risen since the start of Euro 2024, peaking on 25 June during England’s last group stage game when 71% more alcohol was consumed compared with the same day in 2023.

Data is not yet available for the knock-out stages, but consumption is expected to be even higher on semi-final day – with ‘session’ drinks such as beer and cider showing the highest growth.

A poll conducted by AlcoSense found more than a third of UK drivers (36%) think their ability to drive is only impaired if they are actually over the legal drink-drive limit.

But even with just 10mg per 100mL of alcohol in your blood (one eighth of the limit in England and Wales) you are 37% more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than when sober, according to research.

Government figures show that during 2021, there were 740 reported drink-drive collisions during the ‘morning after’ period of 5am to 1pm. This represents 16% of all drink drive collisions that year.

“Please don’t drive your kids to school or commute to work on Thursday morning if you’ve consumed a lot of alcohol watching the game, or use a personal breathalyser to check you’re clear,” added Hunter Abbott.