Health Editor Barry Nelson talks to two recovering North-East alcoholics who believe that minimum alcohol pricing cannot come in soon enough

PETER IVORY could not agree more with the idea of bringing in a minimum price for alcohol.

Click here for a map showing how accessible cheap alcohol is thoughout the region

Like many in the North- East, Peter started out as a social drinker as a young man and ended up having to have a liver transplant to save his life.

Peter, now 66, was given a new liver in April 2005 because he had caused such devastating damage to his own.

Now a strict teetotaller, Peter is urging everyone in the North-East to get behind the new campaign.

“People are still bingedrinking and costing everybody else a fortune to look after and clean up after, but I am more worried about the older people who are drinking at home,” says Peter, who attended the launch of the North-East alcohol control agency, Balance, in Darlington four years ago.

“Booze is very, very cheap these days. You just have to go into a supermarket and see ordinary people walking past with 24 cans of beer and three bottles of wine under their arms. It is now considered perfectly normal,” he says.

“I really do think it is time to do something about pricing.

“We have dragged our feet for too long and Scotland is trying to push harder and faster.”

For years, the former store manager from Sunderland regarded himself as a social drinker rather than someone who was addicted.

He built a successful career in retail as he continued to enjoy boozy nights out with friends.

But after 40 years of regular, sustained drinking, Peter was on holiday in Spain when he was taken seriously ill.

Back home on Wearside he was told he had acute cirrhosis of the liver and one more drink could kill him.

Fortunately, Peter received a new liver less than a year after being put on the transplant list.

KEVAN MARTIN, 51, a recovering alcoholic who overcame his addiction and founded a highly successful support network for people with a drink problem, is also a big fan of the campaign.

“I think it is absolutely time for this. I think it is overdue.

“When kids can buy a litre of cider for less than a big bar of chocolate you know something is wrong.”

Kevan, who founded the North East Regional Alcohol Forum, or Neraf, after successfully beating alcoholism, is passionate about helping people to avoid the mistakes he made in his youth.

He says: “One thing we really need to get rid of is these cheap white ciders.

Young people are starting their drinking careers on these strong white ciders which you can buy so cheaply.

“That is why we are seeing such a big increase in hospital admissions because of drink.”