On Thursday 29 June 2023, a Bournemouth company director, and his business were prosecuted at Poole Magistrates’ Court for supplying unlicensed security.
The court fined Patrick Briggs £960 and ordered him to pay £1,400.60 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £768. The court also fined his business Principal Protection and Events Ltd (PPE) £20,000 and required the business to pay a victim surcharge of £8,000 and prosecution costs of £1,400.60. Mr Briggs is appealing the fine.
Patrick Briggs pleaded guilty to Poole Magistrates’ Court for himself and on behalf of his business, PPE on Thursday 29 June. He supplied illegal security to a Bournemouth bar on 13 and 14 January 2023.
The court also fined Bournemouth man, Ricardo Shand £166 and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £430. This follows Shand’s guilty plea to Poole Magistrates’ Court on 3 May 2023 for working illegally as a door supervisor at the Bournemouth bar on 13 and 14 January.
Shand pleaded not guilty on 29 June to an earlier offence for working at a Bournemouth nightclub on one of the May bank holidays in 2022. The court found him guilty, and he was fined £807, ordered him to pay a £322 victim surcharge and £4,000 costs because of his not guilty plea. The prosecutions were brought by the Security Industry Authority (SIA).
On 5 February 2023 Dorset Police licensing officers shared information with SIA investigators that Principal Protection Events Ltd had deployed Ricardo Shand as an unlicensed door supervisor for two shifts at a Bournemouth bar on 13 and 14 January 2023.
SIA investigators interviewed Patrick Briggs director of PPE, under caution, on the 21 February 2023 where he admitted to deploying Ricardo Shand on 13 and 14 January to the bar. PPE was formerly an SIA approved contractor, Shand told Briggs that his licence application was in progress and that he was in possession of a licence dispensation notice. This was incorrect because PPE was no longer an SIA approved contractor, and the licence dispensation notice facility was not available to either of them. On 21 March 2023 Shand met SIA investigators when he was interviewed under caution. Shand did not respond to any of the questions posed to him by SIA investigators.
Shand was prosecuted by the SIA for working illegally as a door supervisor on 29 June 2023. On 28 May 2022 (a bank holiday weekend) a joint operation between the SIA and Dorset Police licensing officers carried out inspections of Bournemouth’s night-time economy. When they arrived at a club, they found a man who was wearing a black shirt using a number clicker to capture the number of patrons in the club. It appeared that the man, Ricardo Shand was working as a door supervisor.
SIA investigators asked Mr Shand to show his licence and he told them that he had left it in his car. When investigators probed further, he admitted to investigators that his SIA door supervisor licence had expired. He said he worked for PPE Security.
On 8 September 2022 Mr Shand took part in a voluntary interview under caution with SIA investigators. He admitted to them that he was without an SIA licence. He also admitted to having completed 20 shifts at the nightclub between 15 April and 28 May 2022.
Mark Chapman, one of the SIA’s criminal investigations managers, said:
“Patrick Briggs, PPE and Ricardo Shand deliberately supplied and provided illegal security to Bournemouth’s night-time economy. Both Briggs and Shand knew that the SIA licence regime exists to protect the public, yet they chose to operate illegally putting the safety of patrons of Bournemouth’s bars and clubs at risk by their actions. Shand even continued to work despite knowing that he was being prosecuted for working illegally. Both Briggs and Shand now have criminal records. I commend our enforcement partners Dorset Police licensing officers for assisting us to uncover this offending and secure convictions.”
Sergeant Gareth Gosling, Dorset Police’s Drug and Alcohol Harm Reduction Team, said:
“This was an excellent piece of partnership work between Dorset Police’s Alcohol Licensing Team and the SIA to identify and take positive action against individuals intent on either working without the necessary SIA accreditation or supplying unlicensed staff to the night-time economy in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council area.
“This illegal activity undermines our efforts to ensure that we have properly vetted and accredited staff capable of promoting our force’s community safety priorities.
“We value the contribution of the SIA accredited staff in the night-time economy and consistently support them where possible to deliver the best service in their venues. However, unlicensed individuals posing as accredited door supervisors risk undermining the trust and confidence of the public and will not be tolerated.”
(Source: SIA)
