Licensing@aol.com ...Peter Coulson on DPS problems
Am I still in charge?
QI took over as the DPS of these premises in February. Prior to this, an incident occurred
during which it was discovered by the police that the CCTV required as a condition of the licence was not working. As a result of this I was suspended and am working out my notice, still living above the premises. My question is: am I still the DPS and responsible for what goes on in the pub?
AThere appears still to be considerable confusion in the licensed trade between the responsibilities of a licensee under the old system and a Designated Premises Supervisor under the new.
The two roles should not be confused. They do not fulfil the same function. However, the situation you describe needs sorting out.
First of all, I am surprised that you were suspended purely on the basis of an incident that occurred before you took over. Responsibility for complying with licence conditions rests first and foremost with the premises licence holder, which is not you. Legally, therefore, there can be no charge against you for this incident.
However, the fact that you are suspended and under notice, with no day-to-day control of the premises, appears to render the sale of alcohol unlawful. The requirement of the new Act is that there must be a DPS for the premises, and clearly that the person must have a supervisory role.
As soon as your actual job with the company ceased, they should have appointed someone in your place. This is not the same as used to occur with suspended licensees.
It is a different requirement, and there is an action you should take, if it is clear you are to leave the employment. You may give the licensing authority notice that you do not wish to be treated as the DPS any longer, and then send a copy of that notice, together with a direction to them to hand over the existing premises licence (with your name on it) to the authority. That will then force the operating company to install a new DPS if they want to continue to sell.
Suspecting a lock-in
QWe are losing trade because the closest pub to
ours holds regular lock-ins, which used to be illegal. What is the law on this now and can
the police take action?
AThe relaxation of licensing hours has led to a situation where pubs have different "closing times". The first thing that you would need to check is whether these are really lock-ins in the old sense, or whether the sales hours for this pub have been extended or, even more likely, whether the other pub is taking advantage of the fact that there is no formal drinking up time any more.
Details of the licensed hours are contained in the licence summary, which must be posted up in the pub concerned. Failure to do this is an offence. So that should give you an indication of when the actual sales of alcohol should cease.
If sales are, in fact, being made after this time, then the police can indeed take action against the holder of the premises licence. There is no longer a specific offence of selling after hours, but there is a general offence of carrying on a licensable activity "other than under and in accordance with an authorisation", which carries a maximum fine of £20,000 or up to six months' imprisonment.
Either the police or the licensing authority may take action. The alternative is for the police, after obtaining evidence of unauthorised selling, to request a review of the licence, which could result in
the pub's hours being
cut back.
