17/06/2009 - MSPs warned over licensing deadline
The Scottish Parliament has been urged to allow off-sale outlets to sell alcohol beyond the September legal deadline for obtaining licences.
MSPs were warned that with thousands of businesses rushing to comply with the new legal requirements and the slow progress made by licensing boards, a huge backlog of applications is imminent.
According to new liquor laws, agreed in 2005, proprietors are required to have a personal licence and training licences by September and then issue individual managers' licences.
Businesses that fail to allocate managers' licences by December 1 will lose the alcohol licence and be forced to close down.
John Loudon, convener of the Law Society of Scotland's licensing law sub-committee, said around 17,000 outlets are trying to obtain about 60,000 individual licences and this is likely to cause massive problems ahead.
He said a range of businesses, from hotels and clubs to pubs and small shops, could be forced to shut.
Mr Loudon told the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee: "With the best will in the world, I can prophesise now that come September 1, we will have a problem.
"That is not in the public interest in Scotland. Not just the trading interest, the public interest. It's not right. You have the ability to do something about it."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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