THOUSANDS of key workers in Scotland's licensed trade have been issued with notices banning them from selling alcohol, putting huge numbers of jobs in the sector at risk.
In a move which throws the future of hundreds of pubs, clubs, corner shops and restaurants into the balance, an estimated 10,000 people are being notified this week that their "personal licences", required to sell alcohol since 2009, are being revoked for failing to meet legal needs over training.
A significant number will lose their jobs as a result of the move, with one industry expert accusing many in the trade of "sleepwalking towards the dole queue".
In Glasgow alone, 1300 personal licences, almost one in five, have been revoked. Of these 130 are managers, meaning if the business does not get a new, fully trained-up manager in place within six weeks they will be banned from selling alcohol.
In Edinburgh, the figure is around 1000, while in Aberdeen it is close to 600 and almost 700 in the Highlands Council area.
All affected now face a five year ban before they can reapply and possible criminal prosecution if caught selling liquor without a licence.
Police Scotland has already told The Herald it will target those in the trade operating without the necessary consents now that licenses have been revoked.
Industry leaders have also claimed the move will be a massive blow to the trade in the run-up to their busiest time of the year.
A spokesman for the Glasgow's licensing board said: "We anticipate that around 1300 personal licences will be revoked. Of this number 130 people were designated premises managers and those individuals will now have to relinquish their role.
"Unless the affected 130 premises install a replacement manager within six weeks they will not be able to sell alcohol, although we are working to avoid this eventuality.
"According to the legislation those who have the licence revoked will be banned from holding a personal licence for five years."
Anyone who manages any premises where alcohol is sold requires a personal licence, which also authorises the sale of liquor by others. Many premises have multiple licence holders.
The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, which came in in 2009, made it a requirement for licence holders to be fully trained up to drive up standards. Yet despite repeated publicity and direct contact by licensing boards thousands missed an August 31 deadline and then the weekend's legal cut-off point.
The Scottish Grocers' Federation, which represents smaller retailers, accused the Scottish Government of imposing such harsh penalties in the original legislation.
Spokesman John Lee said: "Thousands of people who could find themselves unable to do their job and potentially out of work over Christmas as a result of having their licence automatically revoked. Licensing boards are also automatically required to inform the police when a licence has been revoked.
Leading lawyer Jack Cummins, who has advised the Scottish Government on licensing policy, said: "??Despite warnings from licensing boards and industry leaders, it's clear that a multitude of licensed trade workers have been sleepwalking towards the dole queue.
"For pubs, clubs and shops suddenly without a premises manager, there are dire consequences ahead, a block on alcohol sales, possible prosecution and a licence review, unless they wake up and seek out urgent legal advice."
The Scottish Government said it was for individual licensing boards "to determine their own procedures in compliance with the laid down legislation", adding refresher training courses had been available since mid-2013 to give licence holders sufficient time.
It added that amending primary legislation was "not a straightforward matter, nor is amendment of legislation something that is undertaken lightly".
A spokeswoman added: "We do however share concerns that revoking a personal licence for five years may be excessive. That is why we are addressing this in the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill currently before the Scottish Parliament."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article