Under Age Drinking - The Pit Falls For The Licensee! (continued)

There is a second potential defence to prosecution of more general application and that is "due diligence", ie. if the Licence holder is charged and it is the act or default of another person there may be a defence to the Licence holder to prove that he exercised all due diligence in seeking to avoid the offence. For this to be successful, there would need to be adequate training procedures in place suitable monitoring procedures and Systems to avoid offences. Similarly, where a person is charged with selling liquor to a person under age, there is a defence open to that person if he '1exercised all due diligence' to avoid the commission of the offence, again this would depend upon training procedures and Systems being correctly implemented. Finally there is a further defence and that is that the person selling had no reason to suspect the person to whom the sale was made was under 18 -a question of tact in each instance.

For an offence of this nature, the penalty is a fine and on any second or subsequent conviction the Court may forfeit the Licence.

As an alternative or an addition to prosecution, revocation proceedings could be taken against the Licensee. This would be on the basis that the Licence holder is not a fit and proper person or the premises are being badly run. Such proceedings do not have the same burden of proof as criminal offences.

In short, ensure you have proper systems in place, proper training of staff and that the systems are operated correctly and all staff are vigilant if not then your Licence is at risk and you may be prosecuted.

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