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.


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Source – Metro
Date – 27th April 2010