Crimes and punishments as proposed in the new Licensing Bill

Offences and penalties you may face in the future

by David Clifton of thePublican.com's legal team of experts from London solicitors Joelson Wilson​

Once upon a time (in fact in April 2000), the Licensing White Paper promised new licensing legislation which would "carefully balance rights and responsibilities".

Well, quite a bit has changed since then. For example, we have seen new offences in relation to under-age sales introduced by the Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000. And senior police officers are able to immediately close on-licensed premises for disorder and noise disturbance following the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 - powers that are to be extended by the Licensing Act.

So, now that some of the "tough and uncompromising powers" promised by the government in April 2000 have already been introduced under other new laws, how balanced is the new Licensing Act going to be?

You will have your own views of the possible advantages to you and your business of the bill. We have seen a number of amendments introduced in the House of Lords which will have bearing on the issue of offences, penalties and sanctions.

These include:

• the ban on unaccompanied children in pubs
• the establishment of a central register of personal licence holders
• the creation of offences for use of illegal satellite TV decoders and pirated material.

However, fasten your seatbelts. Here is a list of the proposed offences and penalties set out in the first draft of the bill:

Maximum fine of £200 for:​

• Allowing an under-18-year-old to make unsupervised sales of alcohol (subject to exceptions).

Maximum fine of £500 for:​

• failure by a premises licence holder to (a) notify the licensing authority of changes of name and address of the holder of premises licence and of the designated premises supervisor; (b) produce the premises licence to the licensing authority for updating; (c) keep and display at the premises a copy of the premises licence and to produce it to the police, a fire officer, an officer of the licensing authority or local authority officer; (d) allow any such persons to inspect licensed premises in advance of an application for grant, variation or review of a premises licence or grant of a provisional statement

failure to allow the police to enter premises to which a temporary event notice relates and to keep and to display at the premises in question a copy of the notice (plus other requirements when the notice is in the possession of someone other than the premises user) and to produce the notice to the police

failure by a personal licence holder to (a) notify the licensing authority of relevant convictions while the licence is in force; (b) produce the licence, or notify the existence of the licence, to any court before which he is charged with a relevant offence; (c) notify the licensing authority of any change of name or address; (d) produce the personal licence to the licensing authority for updating or to the police or officer of the licensing authority

keeping alcohol on the premises which is intended for unauthorised sale

selling liqueur confectionery to children under 16.

Maximum fine of £1,000 for:​

• allowing disorderly conduct on licensed premises
• selling alcohol to a drunk person
• obtaining alcohol for a drunk person
• keeping smuggled goods
• failing to comply with a court order requiring premises to close for up to 24 hours in an area experiencing disorder
• intentionally obstructing an authorised person investigating whether a licensable activity is being, or is about to be, carried out.
• failure by a premises licence holder to (a) notify the designated premises supervisor, if he has been replaced, of change of premises supervisor, transfer of the premises licence or the grant of an interim authority notice; or (b) deliver up the licence on the designated premises supervisor giving notice that he has ceased to be supervisor

Maximum fine of £2,500 for:​

• failure by a personal licence holder to notify the licensing authority of relevant convictions during the period of application for the grant or renewal of a personal licence.

Maximum fine of £5,000 for:​

• selling or allowing the sale of alcohol to children
• allowing the consumption of alcohol by children (except beer, wine or cider consumed with a meal by a 16 or 17-year-old accompanied by an adult)
• delivering alcohol to children
• making a false statement in connection with any application under the Act.

Maximum penalty of three months imprisonment or fine of up to £20,000 or both for:​

• failing to close premises in respect of which a senior police officer has made a closure order for reasons of disorder or noise disturbance.

Maximum penalty of six months imprisonment or fine of up to £20,000 or both for: ​

• the carrying out, or attempted carrying out, of an unauthorised licensable activity (ie sale of alcohol, provision of regulated entertainment or provision of late night refreshment)
• exposing alcohol for unauthorised sale.