Duty to declare Personal Licence - A reminder
2016
On the 18th October Wrexham.com published an article which highlights the legal requirement for Personal Licence Holders to disclose the existence of their personal licence to a the Court when charged with a relevant offence.
Section 128 of Licensing Act 2003 requires a personal licence holder, who is charged with a ‘relevant offence’ to produce their personal licence to the Court no later than the first Court appearance. A ‘relevant offence’ is an offence included in Schedule 4 of the Act and includes drink driving.
Wrexham.com, recounts a recent case concerning a local licensee who when prosecuted for drink driving (a relevant offence), failing to stop at the scene of an accident, and driving without a licence failed to disclose his personal licence to the Court. The article reports that the licensee initially gave his profession as something other than designated premises supervisor (he was the DPS of a local Wrexham premises at the time).
After an investigation by Wrexham Council’s licensing officers the licensee was charged with failing to comply with his statutory requirements and was ordered by the same Court to pay fines and costs totalling £526.
Although the Court also had the power to suspend his personal licence (for up to 3 months) or revoke the same they chose not to on this occasion.
Despite the decision of the Court not to act against the licence itself, this case should act as a stark reminder to Licensees of their responsibilities and the potential ramifications for failure to comply.