A Dunedin bar owner has
criticised the police over what he says is bias and a lack of
consistency in punishing licensees for selling alcohol to
minors.
Seven Dunedin and Mosgiel liquor licences or business
operations were suspended this year after employees sold
alcohol to people as young as 15 in a series of undercover
police stings.
Two recent rulings by the Liquor Licensing Authority identify
where the body thinks the contentious boundary between
personal responsibility ends and host responsibility starts
as it relates to the hospitality industry.
Alexandra's Criterion Club Hotel's liquor licence has been
suspended for 48 hours and general managers Corranne and Tony
Flannery have had their managers' certificates suspended.
A Dunedin bar that
has applied for a special licence to hold a fundraiser for
Christchurch earthquake victims between midnight and 3am on
Easter Sunday has contrived the event so the bar can trade on
a sacrosanct day, police say.
The Dunedin District Licensing Agency hearings committee is
to determine whether a temporary authority will be issued to
a central city bar that wishes to continue to stay open to
5am four days a week.
More than 1000 high-school pupils in Dunedin will be looking
for somewhere else to party, after a police crackdown
targeting after-ball events at licensed premises.
An application for exemption to the Easter liquor rules for a
special event in Hawea on Good Friday was yesterday declined
by the Queenstown Lakes District Council acting as the
District Licensing Agency.
