Call for new offence of assaulting a licensee

A new offence of assaulting a licensee should be created — that's the view of Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) security boss Andrew Nicholls speaking at the National Pubwatch Conference in Harrogate today.

He was discussing an incident at an M&B venue where a staff member was stabbed after asking a customer to stub out a cigarette. "There's actually very little support for a designated premises supervisor (DPS) carrying out his duty.

"In all the proposed rules (by the Government) perhaps there should be an offence of an assault on a personal licence holder. It's things like that we need to think about, to support people who are doing a difficult job."

Overall he said there is a need for "consistency in the approach to enforcement".

He said there was a trend of licence reviews being called when they are "not really necessary".

Elsewhere Adrian Studd of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) suggested the much-criticised mandatory alcohol retailing code could result in less enforcement from police.

He said the code is "one good step towards the licensed trade acting responsibly — it's setting out guidelines so they know where they stand.

"It could mean police step back on the regulation side because they (licensed premises) will be in a better position to self-regulate".