A LEADING Bolton doctor has warned young people about the dangers of “pre-loading” before a night out.

Gastroenterologist Dr Kieran Moriarty said drinking large quantities of alcohol before hitting pubs and clubs leads to busy A&E departments and violence on the streets.

New figures show 20 per cent of all A&E attendances throughout the UK are related to alcohol.

This figure shoots up to 70-80 per cent on Friday and Saturday nights — a trend echoed in Bolton.

Dr Moriarty said: “A lot of young people drink at home before they go to clubs so they don’t have to pay the extortionate club prices.

“This means they go out with high levels of alcohol in their system and leads to higher alcohol consumption overall.

“It can lead to alcohol poisoning, trauma and violence. Women can find themselves isolated from their friends and vulnerable to sexual assault. On top of all these potential effects, it places greater pressure on A&E units.”

Figures obtained by the BBC show that the 2002-03 number of 15-29-year-olds admitted to A&E for alcohol related-reasons in the UK was 21,000.

In 2012-13, the number for the same age group went up to 37,000 — a rise of 58 per cent.

But it is not just young people. The figures for drinkers aged between 30 and 49 increased by 56 per cent in the same period.

Dr Cliff Mann, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: ”I think pre-loading is definitely behind some of it, because it means that many people are really seriously drunk before they even get into town.

“So only one or two more drinks is necessary to tip them over the balance and either they will become ill because of the alcohol or they will injure themselves because of the alcohol.”

Minimum alcohol prices were introduced to Bolton alongside other measures in February to make the town centre more attractive to families and older people in the evenings.