THE ACCURACY of the Brulines beer monitoring system has been cast into doubt after the company admitted falsely accusing a licensee of buying out of the tie.
The issue was raised by Phil Turner- Wright, licensee at the Weston Vaults in Aberystwyth in West Wales, who was threatened with court action by the Union Pub Company (UPC) after a Brulines report accused him of a breach of tie.
However, after intervention by The Publican, both Brulines and UPC have admitted an error, apologised to Turner-Wright and pledged to work with him to resolve the issue.
And now it is feared other licensees across the UK, 17,000 of whom have what is widely called the 'spy in the cellar' system, could also be wrongly accused of buying outside of the tie.
Turner-Wright said: "I'm worried that this could be happening to other licensees. If my drinks are going to be monitored they should be monitored correctly. I don't think Brulines would have admitted the mistake if The Publican hadn't made contact."
UPC had ordered Turner-Wright to pay damages for all goods bought outside the tie at a rate of £100 per composite barrel of beers, plus an administration fee of £300. The licensee has now requested monthly checks on his Brulines system to protect himself. "I won't be satisfied until I'm happy the system is compatible with what we pour," he added.
In a statement James Dickson, chief executive of Brulines Holdings, said: "My investigations have highlighted a very basic internal communication failure which resulted in this situation being handled unsuccessfully by an employee. Had Mr Turner-Wright's issue been escalated through the proper channels more promptly this scenario would not have transpired."
A spokesperson for UPC said: "UPC does have a buying-out policy and acts on good faith on the information provided by Brulines. UPC is looking into the matter and is liaising both with the licensee of the Weston Vaults and Brulines to resolve it."