Girl fell to death after drinking 17 tequilas

THE father of a teenage student who fell to her death after drinking 17 tequilas has called for a tightening of licensing laws.

Georgina Meinertzhagen, 16, fell from a second-floor bedroom window of lodgings in Oxford, where she was attending a tutorial college. Georgina, a great-niece of the industrialist Lord Hanson, had spent an evening with friends at an Oxford bar where tequila was served at 50p a measure.

Nicholas Gardiner, the Oxford coroner, said he accepted the police theory that she sat on the window ledge to get fresh air, but lost her hand-hold. He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

After the hearing her father, Daniel Meinertzhagen, a Lloyd's name, of Chelsea, south-west London, said he would not be taking civil action against the bar, Pier 19. 'Nothing can bring my daughter back.'

But Mr Meinertzhagen added that pubs and bars should lose their licences if they served under-age customers. 'If you make it law that they will lose their licence for this sort of thing I am sure they will make time to check the age of the people they are serving drinks to,' he said.

'I find it extraordinary that alcohol in such quantities should be served to young people.'

He said he would be writing to the Clerk of the Licensing Justices drawing their attention to the case, although he had no control over any decision they might make.