SIA warns licensees of application form scam

by John Harrington

Licensees are urged to be aware of a growing scam where door-staff avoid applying for the new Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence by saying their application has been lost in the post.

The scam involves doorstaff requesting an application form, which gets sent to them. They are meant to return this with recognised ID, such as a passport, driving licence or utility bill, but purposefully do not include ID. When the licensee questions them, they claim the form has been lost in the post.

But SIA spokesman Robert Buxton said the Post Office claims that just 0.03% of items sent by recorded delivery go missing, so there is a very small chance that this is the case.

"They have no intention of getting a licence but they have a receipt from the post office. and say, I've got proof that it's been delivered'," Buxton said.

"We are keeping all the envelopes as evidence and have spoken to the police, who have said they would be taking action. If door supervisors say to a licensee, I'm in the system,' and a check reveals they have never applied, it could put the licensee at risk as well."

The scam is believed to have started in south-east England and the Greater London area.

"First of all it was just a trickle. Now we are getting quite a few," said Buxton.

Bar Entertainment & Dance Association chief executive Jon Collins said he believed it was possible some door supervisors could be taking part in the scam.

But he asked: "What wouldbe the long-term benefit? There isn't one. All it could do is delay them from making an application for a couple of weeks."