Brits enjoy the pre-nuptial rituals available
in Prague. Photograph: Michal Cizek/AFP

What shall we do with a drunken Brit abroad? Make them pay, according to the latest proposal by a committee of MPs grown tough by the immorality of it all, writes Rob Castell. In fact, £84.50 is the official cost of being a nuisance overseas, or at least that's what the Foreign Office can charge for an hour of its efforts to bail out Brits abroad, should they so desire. The committee, in its role of public spending watchdog, says the FCO rarely does charge, but a wake-up call may have arrived with the likes of Tory MP Edward Leigh highlighting the "appalling results of British tourists carousing abroad".

So does this mean we'll go no more a' carousing so late into the night? When strolling across the magnificent gothic stones of the 14th-century Charles Bridge in Prague for example, it becomes entirely inappropriate to indulge in lecherous chanting, posterior exposition and other such abominations of civilisation, typified by the stag-weekender. Clearly these rogues should be punished and where better to wound than the wallet? In only 323 out of 84,000 cases has payment for such shenanigans been demanded, despite the fact that the pre-wedding revellers regularly cause mayhem across the continent. Stags and hens are leading the way in international embarrassment, with 70% of the celebrations now taking place abroad, according to a Foreign Office survey. A whopping 25% of the revellers - no doubt carried away by the flourishing baroque expressivity of their hotel exterior - end up being arrested. "Nearly half" set off on their journeys without travel insurance and 31% forget to take a copy of their passport. It's all good fun until someone, usually the best man, gets hurt.

So would compulsory consular fees have an impact? Given that on such trips an £85 bar bill is often to be expected by lunchtime on day one, another small expense may make little difference. Police have been threatening to frogmarch troublemakers to cash points for several years now, though a decline in yob-ism isn't startlingly in evidence. Who is to blame for these pests? Low-cost airlines? The overwhelming excitement of matrimony? And anyway, is there any stopping this phenomenon now?