No ‘Softly Softly Approach’ Tobin Warns

Eddie Tobin and some late-night operators met police earlier this month to discuss the latest task force that have been calling on Glasgow outlets. The crack ‘Alcohol Enforcement Team’, a separate entity to the licensing police, sole remit is to deal with alcohol related problems. But this is no ‘softly softly approach’ warns Tobin. Despite the fact that the police say they are working “in partnership with the trade”, Eddie doesn’t believe that this is the case. He told DRAM, “This is enforcement. They are doing it anyway, and telling us what to do, and putting a smile on it.” He continues, “The officers have bodycams on and will record everything that is said, and if they need to, they will use this as evidence. I would advise all licensees in Strathclyde to ensure that all their paperwork is in order, that younger managers are briefed on what not to say, and that they are instructed to be very careful how the answer questions if a senior member of the company is not present. There is no such thing as a casual conversation, they should also be ensuring that their lawyers are present if they have a meeting with the police.”
He concludes, “Licensees should be careful.”
Some reports from licensees suggest that the new police squad is so keen that they have been talking with inebriated customers on the streets and asking where have been, and do they want to press charges against the outlet where they have been drinking. This is only hearsay. But top licensing lawyer Stephen McGowan of Lindsays comments, ““The offence here would appear be that of the licensee selling alcohol to a drunk person. There are practically zero convictions of this particular offence because, I think, of the difficulties in establishing an evidential link and causal chain, and whether the fiscal could secure a conviction is debatable. The idea of pursuing drunks to point the finger like this is fraught with problems. How reliable is their testimony? What happens if the person has been drinking in more than one premises? They may have actually been refused service and asked to leave. What happens if the person has been consuming off sales as well as on sales? And why is the individual themselves not being charged? There is too much emphasis on demonising the trade and it is high time that individual responsibility was brought into this debate.”