The head of Scotland's largest liquor licensing authority has criticised the lack of prosecutions for serving drunks and warned licensees flouting the law of "very firm" sanctions.

James McNally, convener of the Glasgow Licensing Board, described the number of prosecutions for licence holders serving people who are already drunk as "woefully low" and said the law had not had "any great impact on this issue".

Although Mr McNally's predecessor, Gordon Macdiarmid, had threatened pub and club owners serving drunks with potential closure, he was accused of jumping the gun as the board had no staff to enforce the warning.

But Glasgow City Council is now recruiting licensing standards officers to form part of the authority's general enforcement team and will bring breaches of the law and local policies to the board's attention.

His warning follows claims by lawyers and academics at a Law Society of Scotland event that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill should make better use of existing legislation rather than introduce a levy for the licensed trade to fund additional policing.

Mr McNally, who in his few months in the job has been publicly at odds with Mr MacAskill on several issues, said that serving drunks was fuelling antisocial behaviour.

He added: "This board is extremely concerned that a failure to tackle this issue will simply continue to fuel the difficulties we all experience with antisocial behaviour and as a major and vibrant city, the spotlight will be firmly on Glasgow to see how we tackle these problems, particularly as we enter into a new licensing system.

"We will be taking a very firm approach to those who are brought to its attention for failing to act on this message and who continue to flout the law and responsible management practices."

The Scottish Government has already been urged to make use of existing legislation to curb drunken antisocial behaviour.

Following comments by Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing at a conference in Edinburgh last month that the "polluters pay" scheme may be extended Jack Cummins and Dr Alasdair Forsyth said ensuring pubs and clubs comply with the legal requirement not to serve an intoxicated person would reduce drunken behaviour on the streets.

Mr Cummins said: "There have been virtually no prosecutions for this. A few high-profile prosecutions for tipping people out on to the street who can barely stand on their feet would do responsible licensees a big favour."