Magaluf crackdown on drunkenness ‘a token gesture’

Magaluf saw tough new rules cracking down on drunkenness come into force — but the resort still witnessed the debauched scenes that have made it infamous.

The measures include a ban on drinking alcohol on the street between 10pm and 8am and restrictions on the Majorcan town’s notorious bar crawls.

They come after a teenager from Northern Ireland caused a furore last summer when she performed sex acts on 24 men on one of the crawls.

Some bars along the Punta Ballena strip — where most of the action takes place —had signs up with messages such as “No alcohol permitted in the street” and “Drink with moderation”.

But those messages seemed to fall on deaf ears, with plenty of holidaymakers spilling out of bars with drinks in their hands.

Scuffles broke out and half a dozen police cars intervened to control youths singing football chants.

The attitude taken by many tourists was summed up by Hannah MacDonald, 19, a mental health nurse from Perth in Scotland.

She said: “We’re here for a reason, we’re here to get f****** mortal and just love life, we’re not here to worry about drinking on the street, I do enough of that in Scotland.

“Fine me, do whatever you want, I’m going to get mortal on the street and I don’t care.”

The new rules say bar crawls must be accompanied by a company rep and accredited security staff, and reps are also required to have first aid training.

All crawls now require at least seven days notice and the number of participants is limited to 20 per crawl, with companies only permitted to run one a night.

Those running businesses in and around the strip complained about what they described as a “token gesture” from Calvia town hall to clean up the resort’s image.