HOLDERS of personal licences across Argyll and Bute are being asked to ensure that their legally required training is up to date in order to avoid losing their licence.

Personal licences for alcohol sales are issued for a period of ten years. However, personal licence holders are legally required to undertake refresher training within five years of the date of issue, as set out in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, section 87. If they do not complete the training within the correct timescale they could have their licence revoked and have to stop selling alcohol with immediate effect.

Anyone who was issued with a personal licence with effect from 1st September 2009 must complete training by 31st August this year and also provide evidence of this to Argyll and Bute Licensing Board by 30th November 2014.

The chair of Argyll and Bute Licensing Board, Councillor Rory Colville, said: “It’s important that personal licence holders across Argyll and Bute know about their responsibility to undertake training at the right time, so that they don’t risk losing their licence.

“Training is available within the Argyll and Bute area and personal licence holders will be given details along with a reminder about the timescales, so that they can avoid consequences which will have a significant impact on their business.

“I would encourage anyone who needs the training to take steps to arrange this as soon as possible.”

You can find more information about the refresher training requirement at www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/personal-licence-refresher-training

Argyll and Bute-based companies who provide the required personal licence refresher training courses are:

Ben Lomond Training and Consultancy (Lynn Nicolson)

Website: www.thebenlomond.com

Telephone: 01301 702309/07771 551948

Email: lynn@thebenlomond.com

Environmental Consultancy and Training (ENCAT – Sheila Baird)

Website: www.encat.com

Telephone: 01546 602628/07786 063944

Email: enquiries@encat.com