Police today warned of possible World Cup disorder because ministers ignored their advice not to grant a free-for-all to pubs extending their opening hours.
The Home Office has given pubs extra time so they can keep serving after the usual last-orders to cater for fans following England and Scotland matches. The tournament is taking place in America, Mexico and Canada and many of the kick-offs are late in the evening UK time.
Police chiefs said they had warned ministers not to do it, because ‘common sense tells us this will give us more problems’ – but had been overruled.
Mark Roberts, the Chief Constable of Cheshire and the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) Lead for Football Policing, said ministers were ‘passing the buck’ to local forces.
He said the decision by the Home Office to allow any pubs in England and Wales to stay open late for any home nation match after the group stages ‘was against’ the advice of the NPCC.
Asked how the Home Office had responded to police chiefs' concerns, Mr Roberts said the reply was: ‘Yeah, [we’re] going ahead with it.’
Most fans like these ones celebrate World Cup matches safely - but police are worried that in other venues the free-for-all over pub closing times could cause problems
Police chief Mark Roberts: 'I don’t think all hell’s going to break loose...but common sense tells us this will give us more problems'
Mr Roberts said it would have been better if ministers had not intervened. There is already provision in the Licensing Act for individual pubs to apply for extensions.
‘We would have preferred normal procedures,’ he said. ‘Those places that are well run, in sensible areas, will benefit from it.
‘If you allow everyone to do it, the place gets saturated, and it could cause some issues.
‘I don’t think all hell’s going to break loose. Let’s be sensible about this. Summer’s a busy period for us anyway. We recognise in any tournament, there’s an increase in various demands associated with it.
‘But if England progress, as we hope they do, and the licensing is basically a blanket exemption - common sense tells us this will give us more problems.’
He added: 'We'll cope. We always cope. What it'll mean is that the forces will have to look at their plans, but potentially have to, we're gonna have to scale officers on later anyway, but this would extend it, so it means that officers will work potentially late shifts into the early hours.
'Knock-on effects taking officers away from local communities.
'We would have liked to do it in a more controlled manner, to allow the benefits for the licensed trade, not just pass the buck on to policing to make it work.'
He warned that taking police officers away from their normal duties also had a knock-on effect of an increase in domestic violence cases.
The Home Office was approached for comment.
Tickets to watch England's World Cup matches in venues across the country have been selling fast.
Although England do not take on Croatia until June 17, advanced bookings to secure entry or prime seats in pubs or venues - particularly those with large outdoor spaces and fan zones - are being snapped up much faster than in previous years.
Nowhere is this felt more than the nation's capital.
At the Big Penny Social in Walthamstow, east London, space is becoming increasingly limited for England's opening game, which starts at 9pm GMT.
The venue - a large beer hall with a large outdoor area - is charging £12 per ticket has already seen 'strong demand.'