New £10,000 fines for underage sales
Pubs and operators face new fines of £10,000 for repeatedly serving underage drinkers from next month - and there appears to be no defence if venues are caught.
Premises licence holders at venues that are caught serving minors three times within three months risk a maximum penalty of £10,000 and having their licence suspended for up to three months.
The provisions are included in the Violent Crime Reduction Act, which became law last year.The difficulty for premises licence holders is that the new offence appears to have no defence to itGraeme Cushion - Poppleston Allen lawyer
Poppleston Allen lawyer Graeme Cushion explained that Government has said the section of the law relating to underage sales "is likely to come into force in early April".
Licensees and pub companies could face being fined because operators often insist that they are named as the premises licence holder.
Cushion said: "The difficulty for premises licence holders is that the new offence appears to have no defence to it. The current offence of selling to an underage person carries a potential due diligence defence, such that if training systems are up to scratch the accused may escape conviction.
"Not so with the new amending provision of the Violent Crime Reduction Act. This appears to carry strict liability therefore the prosecution will simply need to establish that three such underage sales have taken place."
He added: "As if the above were not worrying enough, the possibility of review still remains. We are aware of areas around the country where one underage sale is enough to instigate a review and there are certainly plenty where two or three will lead to such an application being made. There would be nothing to prevent a review running alongside a prosecution under the new provisions."
Cushion urged licensees to ensure staff are trained to avoid underage sales and records are kept to prove training has been given.
"Whilst no defence is available as a result of exercising all due diligence, such practices will provide good mitigation in the event that an operator does not wish to accept the 48 period of closure and instead take their chances in court."
