Coroner calls for crackdown on alcohol delivery services after woman drank herself to death

A Victorian coroner wants a curfew on alcohol deliveries from services such as UberEats and Jimmy Brings after a Heidelberg woman who drank herself to death ordered 319 bottles in a matter of months.

The woman ordered 319 alcoholic products including wine, vodka and cider via alcohol or food delivery services.

A coroner has called for stricter regulation of alcohol delivery services after a woman ordered hundreds of wines, spirits and ciders to her home in the months before her death.

Kathleen Arnold, 30, drank a bottle of wine and half a bottle of vodka before she was found dead by her mother in her Heidelberg home from acute alcohol toxicity in September 2023.

In the six months before her death, Ms Arnold ordered 319 alcoholic products including wine, vodka and cider via alcohol or food delivery services.

Victorian Coroner Ingrid Giles on Tuesday called for stricter alcohol regulations, including restricting delivery services such as Jimmy Brings and UberEats.

She recommended alcohol home delivery services be prohibited between 10pm and 10am and a minimum two-hour delay between order and dispatch.

“The circumstances in which Kathleen died, tragically illustrate the consequences of Victorians being able to have alcohol delivered to them swiftly, easily, and late at night,” she said.

“I believe this is an area where relatively straightforward reform has the potential to significantly reduce the burden of harms associated with alcohol accessed via delivery provider platforms.”

In the six months before her death, Ms Arnold ordered 319 alcoholic products including wine, vodka and cider via alcohol or food delivery services.

Ms Arnold lived with complex mental health and substance abuse issues and had been hospitalised approximately 50 times.

She engaged with alcohol and drug services and was at times able to reduce her drinking but was unable to maintain sobriety.

Her mother indicated her daughter’s sobriety efforts were hampered by easy access to alcohol through food and alcohol delivery services.

She raised the issue with a local MP, noting alcohol could be delivered as late as 4am, in excess of legislated delivery limits, without proper checking of ID and, at times, while her daughter was connected to medical equipment.

In late 2023, a Liquor Control Victoria inspector investigated Ms Arnold’s access to alcohol via delivery services, finding two restaurants exceeded delivery limits, and one supplied her outside its licensed hours.

Ms Arnold made 213 delivery orders in the 182 days before her death.

Of those, 98 orders contained alcohol products, totalling 319 drinks including wine, vodka and cider.

A post-mortem showed she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.54 which could have been higher at the time of death.

Coroner Giles said more than 150 deaths involving acute alcohol toxicity were reported to the court each year.

“These deaths represent only a proportion of all alcohol-related deaths, as most deaths resulting from chronic alcohol use … are largely classified as deaths that are due to ‘natural causes’,” she said in her written findings.