MA legal expert Peter Coulson on brand substitution

Lining them up on the bench

Whether or not England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has to use a number of substitutes this summer, I hope that the licensed trade does not do so.

You could wind up in court.

When the Licensing Bill was being put together, the International Federation of Spirit Producers persuaded the Government to include "tipping" as a relevant offence. Better known as brand substitution, it has been around for a long time and needs to be actively discouraged.

Inclusion in the list of offences in the Act does not affect the main law, which already makes it a criminal offence to supply inferior or different products under the guise of well-known brands. It does, however, include convictions for such practices among the list of offences for which a personal licence can be refused or cancelled.

It is still difficult to tell how much goes on within the various trade sectors. A 1999 survey indicated that it could be as high as one in 12 outlets that were substituting at least one brand. That's 8% and represents a great deal of money.

Recent news of a certain American brewer concocting stories about their own product will not directly affect the trade - offences of this type have to be committed "knowingly'' and you are entitled to rely on the bottle to be accurate and truthful about the contents.

However, the fact that a conviction for this type of offence could directly affect the licence is an added deterrent under the new law. But it is not altogether new. There is the story of the former chairman of the Birmingham bench - a controversial figure in his time - who learned of a conviction for this practice, and hauled the hapless licensee before him and refused to renew his licence. "Pouring over is theft, and I won't have thieves running my pubs," he thundered.

But the ingenuity of errant licensees knows no bounds. On being charged with watering down his wooden barrels of Directors' Bitter, one north London licensee pleaded not guilty to the charges. He told magistrates he had left them in the pub yard "and the rain must have got in".

It's the first time I have heard of beer kegs leaking from the outside!