CHRISTMAS and New Year revellers in Ilkley have been warned not to assume they will stay under the limit for driving by sticking to shandy.

In a recent survey, trading standing officers discovered that shandies pulled in West Yorkshire had the highest average percentage of beer to lemonade in the whole of Yorkshire and Humberside.

At 65 per cent alcohol, the region's shandies are clearly stronger than those in other areas.

Pub workers in Ilkley say their policies are strictly for half/half beer and lemonade, which goes against the survey results.

Fraser Barnes, Assistant Manager of Bar T'at on Cunliffe Road in Ilkley said the alcohol content depended more on the strength of beer used.

He said: "Our policy is to use 50/50 beer and lemonade.

"We usually use weak beer for shandies, but sometimes people ask for strong beer because they are having a shandy.

"It's all in the mind.

"People should realize they are still drinking half a lager so they could still be over the limit."

Manager of The Cow and Calf on Hangingstone Road, Robbie Wild agreed.

He said: "We always give people the weaker beer in shandies as house policy. But if they request the stronger one then the onus is on them."

And trading standards officers are warning people that drinking stronger shandies could have some very serious consequences.

Chief officer of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, Martin Wood, said: "There is no easy way to tell how much you can drink and stay under the legal blood alcohol limit.

"Blood alcohol levels are affected by many things, such as gender, weight and how much you've eaten.

"Just because you are under the legal limit doesn't mean that your reactions and judgement are not impaired.

"This survey shows that even drinking shandy can pose a risk. The only sure way is to stick to soft drinks."

Dick Burrow, landlord of the The Swan Inn, Main Street, Addingham, said that the public house had stocked up on non-alcoholic drinks for the festive season for those who wanted to stay sober.

The survey by officers across Yorkshire and Humber was carried out because of concern about the wide variations suspected in pubs and clubs when it comes to mixing a shandy.

The majority of beers and lagers sold in pubs have an alcoholic strength ranging from three-a-and-half per cent, to around five per cent.

By drinking shandy most people expect to halve their consumption of alcohol, so that a pint of shandy should contain between 1 and 1.4 units of alcohol.

But the survey reveals that while some shandies only have 39 per cent alcohol content others can have as much as 93 per cent - making them almost as strong as a pint of beer.

And trading standards officers say that two pints of shandy could be equivalent to one and a half of beer - potentially putting the drinker over the legal driving limit.

l MEANWHILE, services operated by Bradford Council are to operate as normal across the festive period.

The council says its bins will be collected, housing offices, museums and sports centres will be open as usual over Christmas, except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

For all council emergency services, except social services and homelessness, call (01274) 431000. For emergency social services, contact (01274) 432918 or (01274) 530434 after 5.30pm.