Boy, 17, dies at Rooney club do

It is a sad reflection on our society and the press that the headline and substance of this story is the presence of Wayne Rooney at the club rather than the tragic death of a young man.


If we look past the flippant headline it provides us with an example of the challenges faced by the licensed trade and the importance of doing everything in our power as alcohol retailers to ensure that we uphold the licensing objectives.


This is no reflection on the club in question, as we are unaware at this stage of all the pertinent fact in this case; but promoting objectives of ‘the protection of children from harm’ and ‘prevention of crime and disorder’ should feature heavily in this case.


Under licensing law children are considered to be persons under the age of 18 years. Providing there is no specific condition on the licence of this particular club, then they are permitted to allow 17 year olds onto their premises, but they should have adequate measures in place to protect them from harm.


At any time you allow anyone under the age of 18 entry to your premises, you must put additional measures into place and go that step further to make sure they do not come to harm; through alcohol consumption or any other means.


Then there is the issue of illegal drugs being on the premises, there is however no indication that the drugs were being dealt on the premises. As well as the Licensing Act 2003 (and the licensing objective of ‘the prevention of crime and disorder’), the 1971 Drugs Misuse Act clearly sets out the heavy penalties for allowing the use or dealing of controlled drugs on licensed premises.


Above all these regulations and laws there is the duty of care we have towards our customers. Licensed premises should be places of fun, frivolity and friendliness, everyone working within the sector needs to continue to work hard towards eliminating these tragic cases from our industry.


At Beyond The Blue we run a number of different courses, which include;


1. The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements;
• The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence;
• The National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS) which provides relevant information for anyone assuming the position of DPS in licensed premises.
• Conflict Management and Resolution training compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.


Please visit our website at http://www.btbl.co.uk/.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


To view the original article please Click Here
Source – Metro
Date – 27th April 2010

Booze ban girl back in court

If ever evidence were needed to demonstrate that prohibition, minimum pricing or further restriction on licensing hours were not the solution to alcohol related crime and disorder then here it is.


This is truly an indictment on our society as a whole and demonstrates the significant cultural hurdles which need to be overcome when a criminal record is a badge of honour, alcoholism is viewed flippantly and our criminal justice system fails the victims of crime; as well as in this case the victim of society who needs help to overcome the failings which if not resolved quickly will end up killing her.


Sadly this is exactly the kind of story which will be pounced upon to increase regulation in the Licensed Retail Sector rather than realising that it demonstrates the need to take a much more comprehensive approach, through education, legislation and cyclical cultural change.


It will not give those who think that there is an instant solution any satisfaction, but you have to ask the question; what approach would have saved Laura from her fate? Minimum pricing? Shorter licensing hours? Further legislation on licensed premises?


At Beyond The Blue we deliver a number of different courses, which include;


• The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements;
• The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence;
• The National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS) which provides relevant information for anyone assuming the position of DPS in licensed premises.
• Conflict Management and Resolution training compliments personal development and helps employees deal proactively with Workplace Violence.
• Our Personal Safety for Lone Workers course teaches the core skills to help employees deal effectively with alcohol and drug related personal safety issues.


Please visit our website at http://www.btbl.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

To view the original article please Click Here
Source – Metro
Date – 21st April 2010
Submitted by – Peter Mayhew

Mephedrone ban comes into force in UK

Mephedrone a.k.a. ‘meow meow’ or ‘plant food’ has been reclassified as a class B drug alongside cannabis and now, under the drugs misuse act 1971, carries a maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment for possession and 14 years for the sale or supply.


The reclassification came into force on 16th April 2010.


A further blog entry will examine the merits of the ban in more detail soon.


At Beyond The Blue we run a number of different courses, which include;


• Drug Awareness – designed specifically for each individual client to help them address the problems of controlled drug use and drug dealing in their workplace.
• The National Certificate for Licenses (Drug Awareness) – designed specifically for the licensed retail sector
• The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements;
• The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence;
• The National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS) which provides relevant information for anyone assuming the position of DPS in licensed premises.
• Conflict Management and Resolution training compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.


Please visit our website at http://www.btbl.co.uk/.
 
For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


To view the original article please Click Here
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 16th April 2010

New Mandatory Conditions – Licensing Act 2003

Three new mandatory conditions came into force on the 6th April 2010. These mandatory conditions apply to every premises licence in England and Wales; and although they will not appear physically on each individual licence they still apply.


These are the first three of a total of five new mandatory conditions being introduced in 2010; the last two are due to be introduced in October.


As with any new legislation, the government has published guidance to help people interpret the meaning and give some insight into enforcement. However guidance is not legally binding and until such time and test cases start to occur and rulings are given, we can only provide opinion on the new conditions.


The first two conditions are relatively straight forward:


1. The responsible person must ensure that free potable tap water is provided on request to customers where it is reasonably available on the premises.


The guidance suggests that by ‘reasonably available’ it means at almost all times; the example they give for water not being ‘reasonably available’ is when the mains supply is temporarily unavailable due to a broken mains supply.


What might be more contentious is what constitutes a ‘customer’? Presumably a customer is someone who pays for a service or product. If someone walks in off the street sits down and asks for a drink of water are you obliged to provide them with potable drinking water? I would suggest they are not a customer, but unless it is causing a real problem it may be just as well to allow it rather then becoming a ‘test case’…


2. The responsible person must ensure that no alcohol is dispensed directly into the mouth of another person.


This condition has been added to prevent the mythical ‘dentist chair’, but also prevents such activities as free pouring from bottles directly into the mouth or the use of water pistols filled with cocktails being squirted into the mouth of another person.


As much as it is the responsibility of the Designated Premises Supervisor to prevent staff taking part in these activities, they must also prevent customers taking part in activities which contravene these regulations.


There is one sensible exception to this condition and that is when an individual is unable to drink without assistance due to disability.




The final condition is the most ‘controversial’ because of the potential for ‘interpretation’ and the one which requires further clarification to take place before we can definitively say what will and what will not be permitted.


3. The ‘Responsible Person’ should be able to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that staff do not carry out, arrange or participate in any irresponsible promotions.


An irresponsible promotion is one which undermines any of the licensing objectives and encourages people to drink more (on the premises) than they might ordinarily do and in a manner which does not promote the licensing objectives.


So what sort of promotions might be considered ‘irresponsible?


The guidance sets out a number of examples, but this is far from a prescribed list and it specifically mentions that ‘substantially similar’ promotions would also fall under this condition:


• Drinking Games – which require or encourage individuals to drink a quantity of alcohol (or as much as possible) within a time limit.

• Large quantities of Alcohol for Free or a Fixed Price – this prevents promotions such as a fixed entry price allowing ‘all you can drink’. However this also covers unlimited or unspecified quantities of alcohol free or for a fixed price being offered to a particular group of people defined by a particular characteristic (which makes them more vulnerable or more likely to be involved in crime and disorder as a result of the consumption of alcohol).

• Prizes and Rewards – The sale or supply or provision of free or discounted alcohol or any other item as a prize to encourage or reward the purchase and consumption of alcohol over a period of 24 hours or less.

• Sporting Events – providing free or discounted alcohol in relation to a sporting event shown on the premises which depended on the outcome of a race, match or other event.

• Posters & Flyers – sale of alcohol in connection with posters or flyers which are considered to condone, encourage or glamorise anti social behaviour or refer to the effects of drunkenness in any favourable manner.


The definition of an ‘irresponsible promotion’ is still one which undermines the licensing objectives and as such these activities are still theoretically permitted if they do not undermine the licensing objectives. It is not until we see the outcome of some test cases which will allow us to give a clearer idea of the interpretation of when the licensing objectives are undermined.


We always advise our clients to try and not become the ‘test case’ but rather wait it out. My feeling is that it will be relatively easy to demonstrate that those promotions mentioned above will undermine one of the licensing objectives and the guidance suggests that this is certainly going to be the case where promotions target more ‘vulnerable’ sections of the community. These sections of the community have already been identified to include students, women and under 25’s amongst others.


As with all the mandatory conditions they apply to all premises licences and club premises certificates but not to temporary event notices.


The interpretation of the guidance is going to be all important and individual licensing authorities are likely to have very varied interpretations. If you think any of your activities are stepping close to the line then I would suggest a quick call to a licensing officer to test their interpretation might be a sensible approach and permit you to move forward with a little more confidence.


At Beyond The Blue we run a number of different courses for people working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include;


• The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements.

• The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence.

• The National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS) which provides relevant information for anyone assuming the position of DPS in licensed premises.

• Conflict Management and Resolution training compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.


Please visit our website at http://www.btbl.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


Source – Beyond The Blue
Date – 7th April 2010