Derbyshire licensee calls on police and licensing authorities to stop 'criminalising' licensees

Keith Bannister, of Harley’s Bar in Staveley, Derbyshire, admitted a mistake had been made when one of his bartenders was discovered serving alcohol to an underage drinker on 3 November 2012 in a sting operation, but was furious at the way the test purchase was conducted.

The licensee insisted the staff member was tricked because the mystery shopper did not look under 18 and appeared to be dating a 30-year-old man.

Deliberate attempt​

At the time, shadow pubs minister Toby Perkins accused Derbyshire County Council of a “deliberate attempt to trick landlords and barstaff” after he obtained and watched CCTV footage from the evening, which was subsequently seized by police as evidence.

Last month the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) discontinued the prosecution against bartender Joanne Peace, who appeared at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court on 28 August and pleaded not guilty.

The case was adjourned for trial on 18 October and Bannister’s solicitor, David Lucas, a partner at Fraser Brown, requested a full copy of the CCTV recording, which he did not receive.

Independent review​

He then requested the case be relisted and wrote to the CPS making representations that included questioning whether the test purchase had been carried out in accordance with guidelines.  

“Thankfully, the CPS carried out an independent review of the evidence provided by the police and agreed with our representations that there was no basis for a prosecution in this case,” Lucas said.

“Such cases are rare as barstaff will often accept a penalty notice when a failed test purchase occurs.

“In this case Keith was adamant that the correct procedure had been followed in the test-purchase operation and Joanne was prepared to risk conviction for a criminal offence rather than admit guilt for an offence she did not feel she had committed.”

Fake IDs​

Bannister added: “It’s about time they turned the tables on the underage drinkers trying to trick licensees into selling with fake IDs. Time and time again we’ve caught them and then nothing ever happens to the underage drinker. In the old days they were taken to court and fined.”

A spokeswoman for Derbyshire police was unable to comment on the court case, but confirmed that Bannister had since been invited to accompany officers on a future test-purchase operation.

“We hope that it will give him the opportunity to see what we do and how we run the operations,” she said. “We would be interested to hear his views. We offered the same opportunity to Toby Perkins and he has already been on an operation with us.”