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Notification of decision following Licensing & General
Purposes Committee hearing to consider the review of a personal
licence under section 132A of the Licensing Act 2003
 
PERSONAL LICENCE HOLDER: Personal
Licence (1)
  
TAKE NOTICE THAT following a hearing
before the Licensing & General Purposes Committee (the
“Licensing Committee” or
“Committee”),
 
ON27 August 2025, the London
Borough of Hounslow, as the Licensing Authority in which the
personal licence was granted
 
RESOLVED that:
 

·       
the Personal Licence Holder’s personal licence
be REVOKED in line with Section 132A(3) of the Licensing Act 2003.
 
REASONS:
 

1)    
The Licensing Committee
convened to determine a review of the
personal Licence of Personal Licence Holder (1) brought by the
Local Authority under s.132A Licensing Act 2003 (“the
Act”) following notification of a relevant offence
under Schedule 4 of the Act.
 

2)    
A copy of the application was attached to pages 6 to
15 of the agenda pack. As outlined in the publication, by virtue of
paragraph(s) 1, 2, 6a of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local
Government Act 1972, part of the agenda report relating to this
application were restricted from publication.
 

3)    
The Personal Licence Holder was granted a Personal
Licence by Hounslow Council in 2017. Subsequent to the grant, the
Personal Licence Holder was convicted in 2024 at Barrow-in-Furness
Magistrates' Court contrary to section 5(1)(a) of the Road Traffic
Act 1988 and Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, of
driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other
public place, more specifically, with an alcohol concentration
above the prescribed limit, namely 59 micrograms per 100
millilitres of breath.
 

4)    
The Licensing Committee meeting was held in person.
In accordance with paragraph 11 of Section 4B (Committee Procedure
Rules) of the Hounslow Constitution, the Chair, having noted that
the meeting was not quorate at the published start time, decided to
adjourn the meeting for 70 minutes. Once quorate, the
Committee consisted of four
members. All four members of the Licensing Committee were in
attendance throughout the hearing, and during deliberation, which
took place separately in a closed session.
 

5)    
The Committee
was advised of the provisions of
section 132A of the Act at the outset, and the Personal Licence
Holder’s duty to notify the Licensing Authority of any
convictions under section 132 of the Act. Section 132 of the Act further states that it is the personal
licence holder’s duty to notify the licensing authority as
soon as reasonably practicable, by giving notice containing details
of the nature and date of the conviction and any sentence imposed
on him in respect of it. The
Licensing Authority may choose to take no action, to revoke a
personal license or suspend a personal licence for a period not
exceeding six months, where they have been notified that a personal
licence holder has committed a relevant offence. The offence must
be a relevant offence as set out in Schedule 4 of the
Act.
 

6)    
The Licensing Committee carefully considered all the
relevant information including:
 

·       
Written and Oral representations by all the
parties

·       
The Licensing Act 2003 and the steps
appropriate to promotethe
Licensing Objectives

·       
The guidance issued under section 182 of the
Licensing Act 2003 (“the Statutory
Guidance”)

·       
Hounslow Council’s licensing policy including
the Council’s Cumulative Impact Policy 2020 – 2025
(“the Council’s Policy”)

·       
The Human Rights Act 1998
 
Preliminary
Issues:
 

7)    
The Personal Licence Holder was not in attendance
and therefore the first consideration for the Committee was to decide whether to adjourn
the hearing to provide a further opportunity for the Personal
Licence Holder to attend.
 

8)    
The Committee
is mindful that human rights law applies to the
conduct of licensing committee hearings, in particular article 6
regarding the right to a fair hearing. The Committee would want to give the Personal
Licence Holder his right to a fair hearing, especially where the
outcome of the same could result in action being taken against his
personal licence that could result in a suspension of up to 6
months or even revocation.
 

9)    
The Committee
considered adjourning the hearing to provide the
Personal Licence Holder with a further and final opportunity to
attend a hearing to determine the application, however, they were
aware that the Licence Holder had been notified firstly of the
consideration to suspend or revoke by letter and then notified of
the originally scheduled hearing of 21 August 2025 and the current
hearing without response. The Personal Lincence Holder had not
submitted any representations, nor had he provided any indication
that he would be attending the hearing. The current hearing had
also been adjourned by 70 minutes, and there was no indication of
any attendance by the Personal Licence Holder.
 

10) The Committee also noted that the
legislation did not specifically require a hearing to consider a
review of a personal licence and that the Personal Licence Holder
could have made submissions in writing. Given the lack of
correspondence, there was also no suggestion that even if
adjourned, the Personal Licence Holder would attend any future
hearing. Having taken into
account the agenda report, the Act, the Council’s Policy,
Statutory guidance, the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Human
Rights Act, and the Equality Act 2010, the Committee decided to
proceed in the absence of the Personal Licence Holder.
 
Submissions:
 

11) Following the introduction of the application by the Licensing
Officer, the Regulatory Manager of the
Licensing Authority gave evidence in respect
of the application brought on behalf of the Licensing Authority.
The Regulatory Manager explained that there is a duty upon the
Licence Holder to notify the court at the time of his conviction
that he holds a personal licence under the Act, upon which the
court will then relay the information to the relevant Licensing
Authority. In this instance, the Regulatory Manager explained that
they were not notified by the court but instead by Westmorland and
Furness Council and that, as far as they could ascertain, the
Licence Holder had not informed the court that he held a personal
licence. In addition, where the court is not informed, there is
still a duty on the personal licence holder to notify the Local
Authority of the conviction, and again, there were no such records
of notification by the Personal Licence Holder.
 

12) The
Regulatory Manager obtained a copy of the memorandum of conviction
from the court and stated that under Section
132A of the Act, the Licensing
Authority has a discretionary power to act. In this regard and in
accordance with the legislation, the Licensing Authority wrote to
the Personal Licence Holder giving 28 days’ notice that the
Licensing Authority was considering whether to suspend their
licence (for a period not exceeding six months) or to revoke the
licence. The Notice also gave the Personal Licence Holder the
opportunity to make representations in relation to this. He
confirmed the letter had been sent by post and that he had checked
with the post team to confirm whether there had been any returned
post in this regard, in which they confirmed to him there had not
been. A further letter was sent out by the Licensing team notifying
the Licence Holder of the original hearing date of 21 August 2025,
which was subsequently cancelled and rescheduled for administrative
reasons, followed by a further email notifying the Licence Holder
of the new hearing date (being 27 August 2025). The Regulatory
Manager confirmed that, from their perspective, all procedures
under legislation and the Statutory Guidance had been complied
with.
 

13) In
questions posed by the Committee, the Regulatory Manager
confirmed there had not been any response to any of their
correspondence.
 

14) The Committee
also
queried whether any action had been taken against any premises
licence to which the Licence Holder may be associated. The
Regulatory Manager stated that they were aware that the Licence
Holder was a Designated Premises Supervisor for two premises
outside of the borough and that any action in relation to a
premises licence would be separate and not concerned with this
application. He also confirmed that the premises in question had
been notified of today’s hearing and that they would also be
informed of the outcome of the same.
 

15) The
Regulatory Manager considered that it was a matter for the
Licensing Committee to decide what action to take, if any, when
questioned about what he thought was the most appropriate action to
take in the circumstances. He was aware that significant
time had elapsed since the conviction (given
it was in February 2024), although this was partly delayed in
attempts to obtain a copy of the memorandum of
conviction.
 

16) The
Committee queried what measures would prevent the Licence Holder
from applying in another borough for a personal licence if they
were minded to revoke the personal licence. The Regulatory Manager
confirmed that whilst there is not a central information share
point for the boroughs, the conviction would show up on the Licence
Holder’s criminal record check and is expected to be picked
up upon application. 
 
DECISION:
 

17) Taking all of the submissions and evidence into account, the
Licensing Committee RESOLVED to revoke the Personal
Licence.
 

18) The
Committee was satisfied that the Personal Licence holder had
committed a relevant
offenceunder Schedule 4 of the
Act. 
 
19)Furthermore, it
was noted by the Committee that following his conviction, the Personal Licence
holder failed to both notify the court under section 128 of the Act
and to notify the Licensing Authority of his conviction as required
by section 132 of the Act, which in itself are offences. The
Committee were disappointed by the
Licence Holder’s failure to respond to the notice and to
attend the hearing despite being made aware of the
same.
 

20) Noting that the personal licence plays an important role in the
sale of alcohol and in acting as a Designated Premises Supervisor,
the Committee considered that the conviction was a serious
offence and in contradiction of the role required by personal
licence holders of the upkeep and promotion of the licensing
objectives. The Committee was
therefore of the view that the Personal Licence Holder ought to
have exercised better judgment and that the offence demonstrated
his unsuitability to hold a personal licence. 
 
Rights of Appeal:
 

21) There is a right to appeal to the Magistrates Court within 21
days of receiving this written decision notice.