This review has been
continued from the February Licensing Board Meeting at which time the decision
was made to continue the hearing pending receipt of the report from the Procurator
Fiscal. The Procurator Fiscal’s office has made the decision to take no further
action.
I attach a copy of the
original letter from Police Scotland dated 16th January 2018.
Minutes:
Archie MacIver, Solicitor, Glasgow appeared and advised he would deal with items 8a; 11a; 11b and 11c together. Mr MacIver confirmed that James English, Jill English and Lianne McVicar were all present.
The Chair explained the procedure.
Mr MacIver advised that James English would surrender his personal licence but stressed this was not an admission to anything and reiterated that no further action had been taken by the Procurator Fiscal. Mr MacIver said Mr English had been running the premises for 30 years without incident but now the licence had been transferred to the family company, with Lynsay English appointed as premises manager. Mr English, on occasions, dealt with the admin aspects of the business although he now resided in Spain for considerable periods.
Mr MacIver referred to the report from Police Scotland (Appendix 4) and said that matters started in May 2016 when there was an altercation with 2 males which had not been reported to the Police. At this time Mr English was not present but the staff on duty at the time said they had dealt with the matter appropriately. It was noted that the CCTV was not working when the incident happened.
There had been a further incident on 8th July 2016 when a female, who had previously been drinking in the bar was assaulted out with the premises. The female contacted Police Scotland. Mr MacIver wanted to clarify that the premises had closed at the correct time on the night in question. A further incident on 13th November 2016 was a result of an elderly male who had taken ill within the toilets of the premises. He had fallen and banged his head then went into cardiac arrest. The Scottish Ambulance Service was in attendance and the male was taken to hospital.
Mr MacIver advised that on 10th January 2017, Mr English had resigned from Pub Watch as he was not happy about how a situation had been dealt with regarding one of his customers. Mr MacIver said that another incident on 16th January 2017 involved a male who was found by Police collapsed in the doorway of the premises at 12.07am. He entered the premises around 3.00pm and when he left, the staff said he did not seem that drunk. Mr English, who was not present at the time of the incident assured Police that he would speak to all his staff and remind them of their responsibilities.
Mr MacIver referred to another incident on 21st January 2017 when a female was assaulted in the toilets of the premises. She stated that the staff were not interested about what had taken place so she left and went to the Police Station to report the incident. Having spoken to staff, Police Scotland were told that there was no indication from the female that anything had happened as she left the premises without speaking to anyone.
Mr MacIver mentioned an incident on 15th September 2017 when Police had observed lights on within the premises at 1.25am. When entering, there were approximately 15 patrons, the majority of which were playing pool. The officers spoke to the staff on duty who admitted that the premises should have been closed earlier. No further action was taken.
Mr MacIver said another incident took place on 4th November 2017 around 1.55am when Police had noted lights on within the premises. There were approximately 15 to 20 patrons present playing dominoes. Mr MacIver said Mr English stated there was no alcohol being served at the time and that he denied shouting and swearing at the Officers.
On 12th January 2018 Mr MacIver advised that Jill English had contacted Police Scotland after a male had been put out of the premises. Mr MacIver confirmed that other establishments were made aware of this via the Pub Watch scheme.
Mr MacIver stated that no further incidents had been reported since and that Mr English had accepted some responsibility for these incidents but this was after 30 years of an unblemished business. Mr MacIver said that Mr English was now stepping back from the business.
Richard Trail said it was unfortunate that the CCTV was broken on the night in question. Mr MacIver agreed but stressed there was no requirement to have this installed.
Rory Colville wanted to know what happened regarding the incident on 4th November 2017.
Mr MacIver explained that Lianne McVicar was behind the bar cashing up but she denied selling alcohol. Mr MacIver added that there was no real evidence to support the sale of alcohol and questioned why till rolls had not been taken by Police which would have confirmed whether patrons had been paying for drinks after the terminal hour.
The Chair asked why there were drinks still on the tables at 1.55am. Mr MacIver accepted that this should have been dealt with appropriately but he stated his clients have now changed the way they run the premises.
Lorna Douglas referred to the incident regarding the assault of a female and found it worrying that no staff member noticed her or approached her. Lorna Douglas said that the staff should be observing the premises and that awareness should be prior to any incidents.
Mr MacIver explained that the assault took place in the toilet and the female left the premises immediately after, hence the reason staff were not aware of the incident.
Rory Colville wondered what went wrong with the premises over this period as it was such a well -run business.
Mr MacIver explained that Mr English lost interest in the business. He referred to the incident regarding the dominoes competition and said that this was a clash of personalities and that over the period it resulted in various factors coming together but now Mr English had retired and a new generation had taken over which proved to be working well.
The Chair referred to the incidents regarding the dominoes and pool competitions and noted that Jill English and Lianne McVicar, who are personal licence holders, had been present on both nights. He wondered why these situations had been dealt with by Mr English. Mr MacIver confirmed that Jill English was not on duty these nights and it was Mr English who was in charge. Mr MacIver added that Jill English dismissed a member of staff regarding the incident on 15th September for not noticing the female who had been assaulted.
Jean Moffat said she was confused regarding the information about the CCTV system and its lack of use especially when there was so many incidents reported. Mr MacIver confirmed that Police Scotland requested the CCTV and this was provided to them.
The Chair asked Mr MacIver to sum up.
Mr MacIver said that measures have been put in place to prevent any further incidents in the future. He said that Mr English was no longer involved in the business apart from helping out on the odd occasion when staff were on holiday, the issue regarding closing time had been dealt with and the CCTV system was now in place. He added that for the last 6 months there had been no issues with the premises. Mr MacIver said that lessons had been learnt and that both licence holder and staff had taken everything on board.
The Board adjourned to consider the matter further. On resuming the Chair requested that a warning letter be issued to the licence holder stating that no patrons to be permitted in the premises beyond the terminal hour. He noted that although there was no requirement for CCTV this could be used in future if there were any further incidents.
The Chair advised that there would be no further action taken at this time regarding the personal licences for Jill English and Lianne McVicar.