The streets of no shame: The shocking picture that epitomises Britain's ladette culture

Maybe she thinks it's the drink that is preventing her from putting one foot in front of the other.

Or perhaps she knows the vulgar truth and is merely trying to impress her friends. Either way, the sight is certainly not an edifying one.

This shrieking ladette was photographed staggering through Cardiff city centre late on Friday night.

The crackdown is aimed at late night revellers, targeting rowdy hen and stag parties and generally trying to make the streets safer after dark.

Police can use the new powers to confiscate alcohol or arrest anyone who defies them.

The ban has been a success in trials in small areas but will spread across the entire city in time for Christmas and the New Year.

Yesterday it was hailed as a big step towards 'reclaiming the streets' from drunken yobs.

Cardiff Central MP Jenny Willott said: 'Late night alcohol-fuelled crime and anti-social behaviour is a huge problem on the streets.

'People deserve to have a night out without the fear of intimidation or facing violence as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.

'This ban should help the law-abiding and responsible majority to reclaim the streets.'

The Designated Public Place Order - a power introduced by the Home Office - does not make drinking in public illegal.

But police can order people to stop drinking on the streets and can confiscate their alcohol. Anyone failing to comply will be arrested.

It is believed to be the first time the orders has been brought in to cover an entire city.

The measures follow the revelation that drink was responsible for more than half the violent assaults in the city centre in the past 12 months.

Cardiff Council deputy leader Judith Woodman said: 'It gives police the right to confiscate alcohol where people are behaving in a rowdy and disorderly way and causing problems to residents and those around them.'

The move could now be followed by other cities.

It comes as experts warned that British schoolgirls are the worst for binge drinking in Europe. The problem is likely to become worse as it becomes more socially acceptable, a conference heard.

Some 648 children under ten were admitted to hospital due to drink between 2003 and 2008.

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: 'We are more than double our nearest rivals when it comes to women binge drinking. We stand out like sore thumbs.'

He added that many career women were drinking to 'hold their own' with male colleagues at after-work drinking sessions.

Binge drinking among young women hit the headlines again last week when university students across the country took part in organised marathon pub crawls.

Many familiar scenes of debauchery were seen, including half-naked women collapsing on the street.