Don’t worry, help could soon be at hand. The Scottish executive is considering plans to open a chain of “hangover hospitals” for those who fail to make it home in the wee small hours. Rather than being bundled into the back of a panda car or an ambulance, drunks could soon be sleeping off the effects of a heavy night in publicly funded “places of safety”.

As well as a warm bed for the night, they would woken in the morning with a piping hot cup of coffee and even given a change of clothes if they have suffered an accident. Before leaving, they would be given a friendly lecture on the evils of the demon drink by a trained addiction counsellor.

The idea is being proposed by an expert working group, set up by ministers, to address the problems caused by Scotland’s growing problem with binge drinking.

The centres, also known as “drunk tanks” and “sobering-up stations” have proved successful in America, Canada, Russia and Australia. Now members of the group believe they could be effective in easing pressure on busy Scottish casualty wards and overcrowded police cells.

This won’t be low-level accommodation, it will be comfortable, safe and staffed by fully-trained counsellors,” said Jack Law, the chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland who is chairman of the working group. “There is an increasing number of people who are very serious binge drinkers at weekends. Often they pose a risk to themselves and a danger to the public. The aim is to keep them safe while they cannot look after themselves and the police are very supportive of the idea.”

While Westminster has championed Scotland’s licencing hours as evidence that an extension of pub opening hours does not lead to increased alcohol abuse, binge drinking now costs the Scottish economy about £1 billion a year and an estimated 225,000 Scots have a drink problem.

It is estimated that one out of every seven patients at Scotland’s accident and emergency departments is treated for alcohol-related injuries. Last year 1,000 children were treated in casualty units for the effects of alcohol. Drink is also the cause of 40% of violent crime and 88% of criminal damage.

Currently, people found drunk and disorderly are either taken to hospital or a police cell to allow them to sober-up.

Between 2002 and 2004, 14 people died in police custody. They included Neil Reilly, 40, who suffered brain damage after choking on his own vomit at London Road police station in Glasgow.

The case prompted ministers to seek safer alternatives.

The proposal is to establish centres in Scotland’s main towns and cities where trained medical staff would examine drunks and assess their condition. If they did not require medical treatment they would be given a bed and offered a shower, breakfast and even fresh clothes when they wake up.

Bill Morrison, an A&E consultant at Ninewells hospital in Dundee, said the medical profession would support the idea if it was done with medically qualified people.

However, not everyone is enthusiastic about the centres which would each cost an estimated £500,000-a-year to run.

“This system could be abused by those simply looking for a bed for the night,” said Bill Aitken, the Conservative MSP.

The SNP is to launch a last-minute bid to prevent off-licences from being able to sell alcohol round the clock. The Scottish executive’s proposed Licensing Bill, due to be debated later this month, will make provision for some shops to be able to sell alcohol 24-hours-a-day.

The nationalist MSP Bruce Crawford believes all-night alcohol sales will fuel drunken violence and anti-social behaviour, as well as compounding Scotland’s already poor health record. “We must face up to the growing problem Scotland has with alcohol and provide a more restrictive framework than is being proposed by the executive."

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