SIA crisis eases but key is held by police: BEDA
by Tony Halstead
The crisis which threatened to engulf the new doorstaff licensing system has abated with successful applications slowly creeping towards the numbers required to service the UK's late bar and nightclub industry.
The Bar Entertainment & Dance Association (BEDA) says initial panic over the low take-up rate for new licences appears to have subsided.
But chief executive Jon Collins warned this week that there was still some way to go and much depended on police forces up and down the country sticking to their "policy of discretion".
"We have seen an end to the glut of panic phone calls from members being received in our office.
"I do not think operators or individual doorstaff will panic in future as long as the discretionary policy adopted by the police holds up," he said.
Police in many parts of the country are allowing unlicensed doorstaff to continue working as long as they can demonstrate their application has been submitted and is being pro-cessed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA).
But some forces have indicated they will employ a strict enforcement policy by certain dates, with the Metropolitan Police due to end its own discretionary period by 6 June.
While some towns have reported a 100% compliance rate with the new SIA requirements, other areas are still lagging behind.
In London where some 6,000 doorstaff are needed to man city venues, last estimates indicated that only 2,000 new licences had been granted.
"If the police do continue to use discretion I believe we will get through this, but if there are ever insufficient doorstaff to man venues in a given town or city then the situation will be very grave," Collins predicted.
The SIA says most parts of the country are 80% compliant with the new regulations, but claimed there were still problems, mainly delays in people making applications and incomplete application forms being submitted.
"Pubs and clubs are realising this new system is geared towards greater public safety which will promote greater confidence in doorstaff by members of the public," said SIA spokesman Robert Buxton.
