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Notification of decision following Licensing & General
Purposes Committee hearing to consider the review of a personal
licence of under section 132A of the Licensing Act 2003
 
PERSONAL LICENCE HOLDER: Personal
Licence Holder (2)
  
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 relevant 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 (2) 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 at pages 16
to 26 of the agenda pack. As outlined on 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 Staines
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 49 micrograms per 100
millilitres of breath. The Personal Licence Holder was also
convicted for failure to comply with the indication given by a
traffic sign specified as subject to obligatory endorsement in
Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, namely a red
light traffic signal, lawfully placed on or near a road, other than
a motorway.
 

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
was mindful that human rights law applied 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 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 added
that the letter which provided the initial 28 days’ notice to
the Personal License Holder also queried the discrepancy in the
spellings of the Personal Licence Holder’s name on the
Memorandum of Conviction and the on the Personal Licence but there
was no response to this, nor any representations made.
 

14) The
Regulatory Manger confirmed that the Personal Licence Holder was a
Designated Premises Supervisor for a business in the borough and
that the premises in question had been notified of today’s
hearing and that they would also be relayed the outcome of the
same. If the Committee were minded to revoke the licence, then it
would be for the Premises to then submit any required application
for a change to the Designated Premises Supervisor.
 

15) The
Committee sought clarification of the convictions and in response,
the Regulatory Manager explained as per the Memorandum of
Conviction it seemed that the Personal License Holder initially
went through a red light and was then stopped by the Police and
found to be over the prescribed limit of alcohol whilst
driving.
 
Decision:
 

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

17) The
Committee was satisfied that the Personal Licence holder had
committed a relevant
offenceunder Schedule 4 of the
Act.
 
18)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.
 

19) 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:
 

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