SIA crackdown stepped up
Measures to crackdown on unlicensed doorstaff are being heavily enforced - with around 100 prosecutions of door workers already in the pipeline. Under the new law, which will be fully enforceable across the country from April 11, pubs that fail to ensure staff are licensed with the Security Industry Authority (SIA) face a possible prison sentence.
In Nottingham one bar was shut for an hour-and-a-half by police last Saturday, after four out its seven door staff were sent home for being unlicensed.
The Long Island Iced Tea Shop bar was targeted as part of Operation Crunch - an initiative by Nottinghamshire Police to make sure door staff are properly registered. Three other doorstaff at three different pubs in the city were also ordered home after being found without a licence.
"The Long Island licensee was not legally obliged to shut the bar, but it would have been foolish not to do so,"said Inspector Paul Winter.
The incident appears to back up the SIA's tough position on the issue, with it vowing to press for prosecutions if doorstaff fail to register. "There is no point in softening our stance over this," said an SIA spokesman. "If we say we'll put it back until September, people will just put back applying. We know people are aware of this, as we have sent out more than 40,000 application packs." The Home Office confirmed its position has not changed - and that the law would become fully enforced when it is introduced in London next month.
