A Chester security boss has been fined over £2,000 for employing an unlicensed door supervisor.
Stephen Young, the director of Loc 19 Chester, was sentenced at Chester Magistrates Court on Thursday 07 March after pleading guilty to supplying Philip Evans to work on the door of a number of venues around the town. Young claimed that he had not realised that his employee's badge was false.
Pete Easterbrook, of the SIA's Criminal Investigation team, said: "All employees of security staff should check that their staff are properly and lawfully licensed. Mr Young's claim that he was unaware of Mr Evans' deception was no defence, and he was consequently convicted, and sentenced to a significant fine. Making the proper checks is the responsibility of the employer. Businesses who fail to meet these obligations can expect to find themselves in court."
Loc 19 Chester Ltd, Young's business, was also fined over £2,000. Evans himself pled guilty at the same hearing to working with a forged Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence, despite having made an application for the real thing. He will be sentenced on 04 April.
The deception was uncovered when Evans turned up to work for another company, who were short-handed. They checked his licence number using the licence checker facility on the SIA website, and called in an SIA regional investigator when they realised that there was a problem.
Pete Easterbrook said:"The business that uncovered the fact that Evans was working unlicensed did exactly the right thing. They conducted the simple routine checks that Stephen Young should have done as a matter of course for all of Loc 19's employees. Mr Young's poor working practices have landed him in court. All suppliers of SIA licensed staff should take note."
Licensees at several venues confirmed that Evans had worked at their establishments whilst using the licence that was subsequently revealed to be false.