Legal advice: DPS rules leave pubs vulnerable
Our legal team looks at the rules on designated premises supervisors which could leave pubs high and dry.
Conditions relating to electronic submissions may well have huge ramifications when it comes to applications to vary the designated premises supervisor (DPS), which can be made with a request that it takes immediate effect.
It is essential that a DPS can be replaced without delay, in order to allow sales of alcohol to continue. As the regulations would have it, if a DPS resigned on a Friday evening and an email was sent to the licensing authority to appoint a replacement with immediate effect, the application would not have effect until the licensing authority received the fee on the Monday morning.
A mandatory condition will be attached to the premises licence which states that no supply of alcohol may be made when there is no DPS in place. Breach of a condition of a premises licence is an offence which carries a penalty of a maximum fine of £20,000 and/or up to six months imprisonment.
Under the existing licensing regime, deemed interim authority notices take effect as soon as they have been served and the fees are sent subsequently. This system has worked very well for a number of years and has proved an invaluable resource in times of genuine emergency, so why change it?
