Licensed trade workers warned over risk of losing personal licences

Workers in pubs, clubs, restaurants, off-licences and other licensed premises are being urged to make sure they avoid their personal licence expiring.

Almost 1500 personal licences issued in 2009 by Glasgow Licensing Board, when new licensing legislation came into effect, are due to expire on August 31 this year.

To ensure a personal licence that's due to expire on August 31 is renewed in time, the licence holder must submit an application for renewal to the Licensing Board no later than May 31 this year.

So far just under 500 applications to renew personal licences have been received by the Licensing Board. As a result of this, concerns are growing that around two-thirds of the licence holders due to renew their paperwork by May 31 are currently drifting towards their licence expiring/missing this deadline.

To help personal licence holders understand whether they need to submit with an application, the Licensing Board has developed a quick on-line guide that will spell out what individuals will need to do.

The 'Guide to Renewing your Personal Licence' can be found on the council's website by clicking on this link.

Councillor Matt Kerr, Chair of Glasgow Licensing Board, expressed his anxiety that personal licence holders were not taking seriously the warnings that their licence will expire unless renewed.

Councillor Kerr said: "Anyone whose personal licence is approaching its expiry must act immediately if they wish to keep the licence.

"We have already written to 1460 personal licence holders to remind them that their licence is close to the end of its ten year duration and to provide information on what to do next.

"We have streamlined our own processes to make renewals as straightforward as possible.

"However, the Scottish Government has made clear there will be no extension to accommodate late applications.

"If anyone has a job that depends on a personal licence then it is fully in their interests to deal with this right away."