- 10th December 2019
- By: David Henderson
- Health and Safety
It is far too easy for Local Authorities to blame violence and disorder on bars and clubs then after encouraging venues to open, with suitable high council taxes, making it more difficult to trade.
Sometimes Licensing authorities have to look closer to home to solve these issues!
HSADD Says: This item from Worcester News makes for an interesting read as they seem to have statistical data that indicates that if you stand in a club or bar rather than be seated then the people tend to commit acts of violence more Is this true?
I would like to see if they aligned the data for violence against the numbers of uniformed Police Officers on duty in the area (Not just driving around in vans) but on actual foot around the venue. I strongly suspect that if this data was aligned you would see an increase in crime directly related lack of Police due to cutbacks.!
One Police force indicated that they were ‘trying out’ a new method which actually deliberately reduced the numbers of Police Officers on foot around bars and night clubs as in the opinion of the senior Police officers, ‘The presence of uniform Police can lead to increased violence’.
That initiative worked well – NOT, the increase in violence and robberies went off the charts, groups of feral youths age between 14 and 21 roamed the streets in packs, committing robberies and selling drugs plus Paracetamol! – it was a disaster.
This line of thinking indicates that when you see a Police officer you decide yes I’m going to really go for it here and look forward to a night in the cells and all that follows, doesn’t every driver who sees a Police car put the pedal to the metal?!
All licenced premises should be controlling the numbers inside and also having sufficient security staff on duty, they should also consider becoming a member of NTIA and have good legal cover within their insurance from specialists like NDML who have an excellent package and have robust due diligence systems like HSADD Compliance Management and ISITCHECKED.
If I had premises in this licencing authority I would definitely be making sure that I had my bases covered with the above recommendations, don’t wait for the ‘review’ to land on your desk!
#NTIA #NDML #DUEDILIGENCE #INSURANCE
Article
THE number of city-centre bars where drinkers mostly stand up could be held to stricter licensing policies by the council, it has been revealed.
Worcester City Council has recommended it changes its policy to limit the number of “vertical drinking establishments” looking to open between midnight and 6 am it grants licences to in a bid to put a stop to irresponsible drinking and increased alcohol-related crime.
Late-night takeaways would also be held to the stricter rules.
According to Public Health figures from last year, there are almost 11 premises selling alcohol per square kilometre in Worcester – nearly 10 times higher than the national average.
The council’s review of its licensing policy found that the majority of bars and clubs that had little or no seating were associated with the majority of crime and disorder.
Leave a Reply