On 11 December 2025, Local Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood joined Sussex Police Chief Constable Jo Shiner on a roadside patrol to see December’s Operation Limit in action. The message is familiar but urgent: if you’re driving, choose 0% and expect checks, especially at weekends and the morning after. The visit reflects a two‑track approach this Christmas-more visible enforcement alongside a bigger nudge toward alcohol‑free choices.

That nudge sits under the Department for Transport’s THINK! 0% platform, a partner‑led campaign that invites pubs and brands to add clear 0.0% prompts to menus, uniforms and social posts so designated drivers see a safe option at the moment of decision. This winter, Captain Morgan, Heineken and Peroni are aligning their alcohol‑free lines with the safety message, with free serves in selected Stonegate and Greene King venues.

Ministers are also targeting drug‑driving. Department for Transport analysis shows a 70% rise in driver fatalities where drugs were present between 2014 and 2023. Young men are heavily over‑represented: around 90% of drivers impaired by drugs in collisions are male, with four in ten aged roughly 17 to 29. That is the audience for the first THINK! drug‑driving campaign in a decade.

Police data suggests visibility works. In December 2024’s Operation Limit, officers conducted 58,675 roadside tests and made 6,931 arrests across the UK. Nearly 10% of alcohol tests were positive, while more than 42% of drug wipes returned a positive result. Forces say they will again focus on late‑night checks and the ‘morning after’ through December.

For operators and marketers, THINK! 0% is a pragmatic framework: a co‑badged toolkit that puts the safety prompt where it counts-on point‑of‑sale, menus and staffwear-without a hard sell. The idea is simple: normalise ordering 0.0% when driving, and reduce risky decisions at the bar through clearer signposting and consistent cues.

There is commercial logic. Drinks below 1.2% ABV carry no alcohol duty, yet are often priced near standard serves in pubs, supporting margins in a costly trading month. Stonegate reports low and no‑alcohol beer and cider sales up 32% year‑on‑year in Q1 2025, while Heineken 0.0 has passed 1,000 taps nationwide, improving access beyond bottles.

Consumer demand is moving the same way. IWSR estimates no‑alcohol beer grew about 20% in 2024 and now accounts for more than 2% of UK beverage alcohol sales, with further gains expected into 2028. AB InBev’s recent de‑alcoholisation investment at Magor in south Wales underscores the bet that 0.0% will take a larger slice of the beer market.

The test for this public–private partnership is outcomes, not redemptions. The central estimate for drink‑drive deaths fell from 300 in 2022 to 260 in 2023, still around 16% of all road fatalities. If this December’s mix of enforcement and 0.0% offers pushes down positive test rates and collisions, the model will have proved its worth; if not, expect louder calls to cut limits in England and Wales to the Scottish level.

Investors will note the brand and venue read‑across. Diageo, Heineken and Asahi are using responsibility campaigns to build time‑in‑market for alcohol‑free lines as the category scales from a small base. Asahi, for example, aims for 20% of its portfolio to be alcohol‑free by 2030, while pubcos use 0.0% to keep mixed groups going out together rather than staying at home.

For drivers and hosts, the ask is straightforward. If you’re on the roads, pick a 0.0% and plan the return leg; if you run a venue, make the safe choice conspicuous and quick to order. The rest comes down to visible policing and habit formation-so December nights end with people home safe and fewer families meeting the NHS in the small hours.