Under the new provisions of the Licensing Act 2003, persons responsible for the sale of alcohol on licensed premises must hold a personal licence in their own name. In addition, each set of licensed premises must have a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) who is the holder of a personal licence.
Under section 129 of the 2003 Act, the holder of a personal licence who commits what is known as a ‘relevant offence’ while the licence is in force may have that licence suspended for a period of up to six months, or forfeited entirely. The order for suspension or forfeiture is made by the convicting court at the time of conviction. If such a suspension or forfeiture is ordered, then subject to an appeal the order takes immediate effect. This means that if a conviction is confirmed aganst a DPS, the premises in question must immediately stop selling alcohol, or vary the premises licence so as to install a different DPS.

The ‘relevant offences’ are contained in Schedule 4 to the 2003 Act. Paragraphs 4, 15 and 16 of that Schedule cover the following offences:

• Section 1 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 (c.29) — false trade description of goods;
• Section 14 of the Food Safety Act 1990 (c.16) — selling food or drink not of the nature, substance or quality demanded;
• Section 15 of the Food Safety Act 1990 — falsely describing or presenting food or drink;
• Section 92(1) and (2) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (c.26) — unauthorised use of trade mark etc. in relation to goods.

Note that the offences are relevant only if they relate to the sale of alcohol. This means that offences which will have a potential impact on the personal licence include the following:

• Brand substitution of alcohol;
• Substituting an alternative from the brand requested at the time;
• Misleading descriptions of alcoholic drinks;
• Supplying low quality or low-strength spirits;
• Charging at the till for a known brand while serving one of inferior quality.

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