PUBS in Glasgow have been banned from serving drinks to festive revellers in glasses or bottles after midnight.

Licensing officials have told all pub operators that if they want to open for extra hours over Christmas and New Year they must use plastic or toughened glass from midnight. On nights such as Hogmanay, drinks already in a glass at the time of the bells will have to be decanted into plastic.

The demand, which has been criticised by licensed trade sources, comes over a month before it becomes mandatory for all venues open after midnight to serve drinks in toughened glass or plastic.

It also follows an 11th-hour back-track by Glasgow's licensing board in June to ban glass from all city pubs and clubs by 2007. Instead, only clubs, venues with entertainment licences, bars with a history of "glassing" incidents, and pubs open after midnight - such as those with 1am function rooms or which have been granted "occasional extensions" - are affected by the policy.

But the latest requirement, of which licensees were informed by letter earlier this month, has led to talk of a rebellion by pub operators, furious that they had little or no warning.

Some insist plastic vessels are almost impossible to come by as the city's nightclubs and entertainment venues have taken all the supplies and that beer and alcopops served in plastic are thin on the ground.

They also claim that, as well as damaging the city's reputation with Hogmanay visitors, a policy designed to cut violent attacks could have the opposite effect as drunken revellers are told to hand over their glasses.

Michael McHugh, Strathclyde president of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said the preparation of hundreds of bars had been thrown into disarray by the move. He said: "This was supposed to come into force next January. Even then, it would only apply to pubs which have been granted very occasional extensions . . . for most of our members that's around Christmas.

"The upshot is that we've now got a few weeks to prepare for something they believed they wouldn't need to do for almost a year.

"It's chaos. Orders have been made and there's little or no plastic vessels or bottles on the market."

Patrick Brown, of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association, which mounted a legal challenge to the original policy, said the move showed a disdain by the licensing board for city licensees. He added: "We are taking advice from our lawyers on what action, if any, can be taken to reverse this decision."

Business leaders have also condemned the move. Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive Lesley Sawers said: "This is disappointing and will have a negative and damaging effect on the image of Glasgow as a safe and progressive city.

"Add this latest move to the recent vote by MSPs to force major shops to close on New Year's Day, and it is obvious that the licensing board and the Scottish Parliament do not understand the damage their actions will do to both business and the city at a time when we will have 20,000 tourists in Glasgow."

Licensing board convener Gordon Macdiarmid last night insisted licensees had been given enough time to make their preparations and it was within the board's right to impose such conditions after midnight.

He said: "Clearly, we want both visitors to the city and residents to have an enjoyable festive period and we want the trade to get a turn at this time. But our concern is for public safety.

"Our views on this were well rehearsed last year when we visited several premises and it seemed the midnight curfew was accepted by everyone.

"This wasn't decided last week. It was mentioned at the October board meeting to give people the opportunity to prepare for their extensions. The people on the ground coming in to return their applications don't seem to have a problem with this so I really don't understand the concerns."