Legion rapped for having alcohol at County Show dance

A WARNING has been issued to Thurso’s Royal British Legion club after it allowed 100 people to illegally drink alcohol during this year’s Caithness county show dance

Its committee was rapped by licensing chiefs this week after it failed to obtain permission to serve drink at the post-show dance at its Riverside clubrooms on the evening of July 21.

The club should have obtained an occasional licence to cover the event, which had been advertised in the Caithness Courier three days before.

David Inglis, Highland Council’s area licensing standards officer (LSO), spotted the advert and visited the dance because he knew a licence had not been obtained.

He said about 100 people were in attendance and openly consuming alcohol in the function suite, but had no connection with the club.

Mr Inglis subsequently reported the club, which received the proceeds from the bar’s takings, to Highland Licensing Board for the serious breach because he “suspected a crime.”

Speaking at the board’s meeting in Inverness on Tuesday, the club’s solicitor Lorna Murray said it was an oversight by long-serving club secretary Lyonel Sutherland, who attended the hearing.

She said he was aware of the regulations but had simply forgotten to obtain an occasional licence before he went on holiday.

“Mr Sutherland is hugely regretful about this,” she said.

“Mr Sutherland has been a member since 1981 and club secretary since 1991. There was no intention to operate outwith the law – it was a genuine mistake.”

Ms Murray said the incident was a deep source of regret within the club because it was the first time in its 45-year history that it had got into trouble with the authorities.

However, board members and councillors Jamie Stone and Ian Cockburn questioned why Mr Inglis had not asked the club before the dance if it had obtained an occasional licence because he had read the advert three days before.

Mr Stone (Tain) said he accepted the legion’s branch had made a mistake but asked if there was not a duty to help organisations to stay within the law because the officer knew it did not have a licence.

Mr Cockburn (Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh) went further and said a “quick phone call” from Mr Inglis would have avoided the offence and subsequent fallout.

But Mr Inglis said there was no mention in the advert that alcohol would be consumed and licensed premises were aware of the rules. “It is very difficult to keep track of all the events which should have a licence,” he said.

Board clerk Alaisdair Mackenzie defended the LSO’s actions and said it was not his job to warn premises about law-breaking.

“The failure of the law here is of the premises, not of the LSO’s,” said Mr Mackenzie, who added the branch did not, in any case, have enough time to apply for an occasional licence from the advert’s publication to the dance. Landward Caithness councillor Willie Mackay, a board member, said it had been an unfortunate incident but did not detract from the RBL’s role in the community.

He said: “This is a well-run club we are talking about here and a great asset to the county of Caithness and Thurso. I am confident that this was a complete oversight.”

The board issued a written warning to the legion for the offence.

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