Published: 14 May 2015
Q: My licence was recently reviewed and I am thinking of appealing the decision. One of my grounds of appeal is that, on the day, I produced some documents which I was going to use in my defence. However, the Police objected to the documents saying it was too late and the Council refused permission for me to hand them out. Is this a ground for appeal?
A: Without knowing the detail of your case I can only comment in general terms. The Hearing Regulations state that any documents produced at the hearing (and not before) can only be used with the consent of all other parties. The Licensing Sub-Committee was within its rights therefore to refuse these documents but I would normally expect them to ask if a short adjournment was needed for all parties to consider the documents. Depending on the importance of those documents to your case it may have been appropriate to adjourn the hearing to another day so that everybody can read them properly. Either way, if you did decide to Appeal then you would be able to introduce the documents in the appeal, as an appeal is a fresh hearing. I would advise you to seek legal advice immediately.
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