An early licence for Toby

Toby Kheng, from Lincolnshire, has become probably the youngest person in England and Wales to gain a personal licence under the Licensing Act 2003.

Toby received his personal licence from his local authority, East Lindsey District Council, on his 18th birthday recently.

Just over two years ago Toby became one of the youngest people to achieve the BIIAB National Certificate for Licen-sees (NCL) at the age of 15. In February, he achieved his BIIAB National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) when he took part in one of the first of the NCPLH courses with Lincoln College. Shortly before his 18th birthday he applied for a Criminal Records Bureau Standard Disclosure, then his licence application was submitted and held by the local auth- ority until his 18th birthday.

Toby's father's family business operates a number of pubs in Lincolnshire and Kheng has always been interested in this part of the business.

Toby's father, Michael Kheng, also runs Kurnia Licensing Con-sultants, which has successfully made just under 300 applications mainly in Lincolnshire.

Michael said his son's achievements in both the NCL a couple of years ago and in the NCPLH were a credit to him.

On the current licensing situation, Michael said he felt that most pubs in Lincolnshire had managed to make their applications, but a number had not.

He believes there will be more off-licences, guesthouses and late-night refreshment venues around who still think that they do not need to do anything.

'The pub industry is very fortunate in having a very good weekly trade newspaper to provide up-to-date information to its readers, Michael added. 'In the three sectors above, I feel there is not such a communication route and therefore a lack of understanding of what is required.