- Change of name or address — you must “as soon as is reasonably practicable” notify the licensing authority that granted your licence of any change in the above details. If you fail to do so, you can be fined up to £500.
- Licence lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed — again, you need to apply to the licensing authority for a duplicate. If it has been lost or stolen, then you will need to report it to the police and get an incident number.
- Duty to produce licence for inspection — if you sell alcohol, it is your duty to produce your licence for inspection if asked to do so. You do not need to keep both parts of the licence with you. Just slip the card part of the licence into your purse or wallet. It is an offence to be unable to produce your licence for inspection when you are on duty, and you can be fined up to £500.
- If you are prosecuted for a “relevant offence” — you must tell the court when you first appear before it that you hold a personal licence. If you fail to do so you commit an offence and can be fined up to £500 (for a list of relevant offences visit the Poppleston Allan website). A word of warning, if you are found guilty, the court has the power to suspend or revoke your personal licence. If that happens and you are a designated premises supervisor (DPS), you will need to arrange immediately to be replaced as DPS; any sales that take place after your personal licence has been suspended or revoked will be unlawful.
- If convicted by the court, you must also notify the licensing authority that granted your licence of the conviction. You need to return your personal licence to the authority when you notify it as it will update the conviction upon your licence. Failure to notify it can lead to a fine of up to £500.
- Renew your licence - three months prior to the expiry date of your licence, you can submit your application for renewal but you get only eight weeks to submit the application. If you submit it in the final four weeks leading up to the expiry date your application will be rejected. You will then have no option but to apply for a new licence. The problem with this is your new licence is likely to be granted after the expiry date of your old one, which means if you are a DPS there is going to be a period where you are not holding a personal licence and you are going to have to be replaced as DPS.
- If you apply correctly for renewal, then even if your application has not been determined by the date your personal licence is due to expire, your old one will continue to operate until your renewal application has been determined.
In this video, Lisa Sharkey of Poppleston Allen gives a brief overview of the legal requirements of holding a Premises Licence, how to obtain one and the obligations on the holder.