Brulines kit comes in for BEC criticism

Beer flow monitoring equipment provided by Brulines was heavily criticised in the Business & Enterprise Committee's (BEC) report into the pub industry.

The BEC report said it had "doubts about the basic accuracy of the equipment", citing a visit by its members to the Eagle Ale House in Battersea, South London.

"Our visit to [the pub] found their Brulines 'account' bizarrely showed that they had almost 2,000 gallons (around 220 barrels) of beer in stock that had been delivered and not sold over a 12 month period," the report said.

The report said it was possible that the equipment was "as reliable as the company claims", but added the difficulty was in verifying the situation, since by Brulines own admission Weights and Measures legislation "does not apply to the provision of data by Brulines because the service it provides arises out of business to business transaction and do not impact on the product sold to the end user".

While acknowledging that a company - in this case a pubco - could reasonably be expected to ensure the other party to a contract respects its terms, the BEC report suggested the measurement device to police such a situation ought to be "properly calibrated and subject to external verification".

The report added: "Given the impossibility of distinguishing between beer dispensed and sold, beer run off and disposed of preparatory to serving, and water used to clean the lines, we believe pubcos should not be allowed to rely on data from Brulines equipment to enforce claims against lessees accused of buying out of the tie."

Brulines has said in the past it has begun introducing technology known as I-Draught which can differentiate between beer and water running through pipes.