Licensing specialist Stephen McGowan of Tods Murray LLP writes exclusively for The Firm on the imminent chaos of the new licensing Act. The following is an extract from a feature that appears in the forthcoming edition of the magazine.

"The effect of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 has attracted several front page news stories and generated a reasonable amount of broadcast coverage. Some readers may remember the furore over “24 hour licensing” when the Act’s proposal to have no set hours was published; notwithstanding the fact that 24 hour licensing already existed and in ignorance of the fact that regardless of whatever times a licence holder may request it was still up to the licensing board to decide if he would get them.

"Scare stories about thousands of pubs closing all over Scotland became more and more frequent in the last few weeks. We learned through FOI requests that in fact 20% of premises had not applied for the new premises licence; many because they could not afford the massive hike in licensing fees the new system had introduced; many because they had already closed because of the general economic downturn. On top of all that, of the 80% of premises who have managed to apply for their premises licence, it now seems that many of those think that is the end of the story, and its plain sailing come the “big bang” date on 1 September 2009. That is far from the truth.

"In order to be named as a premises manager, the individual must first have passed a training course and then in turn successfully applied for their own personal licence from the licensing board which covers the area where they reside. Training courses are vastly oversubscribed and managers are struggling to get on courses; awarding bodies are taking a lot longer to issue certificates because of the backlog; and some managers mistakenly think the training certificate itself is a personal licence. It ain’t!

"Who is to blame for this mess? The Scottish Government has continued to say that it is a matter for the licensed trade to ensure they make the necessary applications on time, and that is of course correct. Certain elements of the trade blame the licensing boards for dragging their heels with the personal licence applications. Other elements attack the Government saying they have had no assistance, and that the whole process has been overly bureaucratic and incredibly expensive. Certain licensing boards have been vocal in their view that the Government has not been of any assistance.

"Another SNP soundbite popular with MacAskill, Sturgeon and co is: “it’s not the drink – it’s the way we drink it”. Yet there is too little enforcement against the individual who would seek to ruin it for the rest of us. The number of prosecutions for existing offences such as entering a premises whilst drunk, attempting to purchase alcohol whilst drunk, attempting to buy alcohol for persons under 18, being drunk and incapable in licensed premises, and being drunk and disorderly in licensed premises are startlingly low.

"The 1st September is almost upon us. I would like to say good luck to everyone involved in this process, as the real fun is about to begin."