TRADING standards officers are calling on the Government to ensure that beer drinkers get a full pint.

Proposed legislation again-st short measures could see landlords being fined up to £1,000 and losing their licence in extreme cases.

But they will still be able to serve up to five per cent less than a pint before they face prosecution.

Durham County Council's consumer service department said that drinkers should get a pint that is 100 per cent beer.

In the past two years, the department has investigated six complaints about short measures, although none resulted in prosecution.

The existing law on short measures is unclear because it does not say how much of a pint should be liquid and how much the froth of the head.

The proposals will allow pints that are not less than 95 per cent liquid after the head has collapsed. Councillors will be urged to call on the Government to insist on full pints in the legislation.

A report to their cabinet said pubs that sell a full pint of liquid, using lined glasses or measuring instruments, are at a commercial disadvantage.

It said the 95 per cent rule "represents a significant tightening of case law whereby the courts have, on occasions, accepted that 90 per cent liquid does not constitute short measure.

"The proposal would enable trading standards departments to concentrate on the worst cases of short measure, but would not address the current inequalities existing in the licensing trade."

The report said that insisting on 100 per cent liquid was the only way to "create a level playing field and ensure one fair measure for all parties".

Ken Weaver, chairman of the Durham branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, welcomed the council's stance.

He described the current position on short measures as "a legalised form of rip-off".

He said: "If you buy a pint of milk from the milkman you expect it to be 100 per cent liquid, and if you buy a loaf of bread you don't expect two or three slices to be missing. Why should beer be any different?

"Most landlords in this area are sympathetic. Some places use lined glasses and you don't have a problem.