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Claiming my TEN back

Can I withdraw a TEN so it does not count towards my annual allowance?

Q: I am the owner and DPS of a busy pub which is located near the city’s main football ground. Some time ago I applied for a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) for a party on a Saturday evening which will take place in a couple of weeks’ time. I have received a written acknowledgement of the Notice from the local authority and I have paid the requisite fee. By coincidence, on the day of the party, our local team will playing our local rivals, and due to TV requirements an evening kick off has been scheduled. Yesterday I received a visit from our local police licensing team. They have asked me to voluntarily close on the day of the match, including the time covered by the TEN. They indicated that if I was not prepared to voluntarily close then they would use legal powers to oblige me to do so. I have agreed to close and to cancel the event but obviously this is going to result in a loss of revenue. Can I at least withdraw the Temporary Event Notice, so that it will not count towards my annual TENs allowance, and will I be able to recover the Notice fee?

A: You raise an interesting point. Under the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003, a TEN may be withdrawn by you as the premises user by giving the relevant licensing authority (which issued the TEN) a notice to that effect no later than 24 hours before the beginning of the event period specified in the TEN. Unfortunately, you are unlikely to recover the fee that you paid when you gave notice of the TEN as the council are likely to argue that they have already incurred administration costs in processing the application. However, due to the unusual circumstances relating to the need to withdraw the TEN, you might wish to ask the Council if they would be prepared to refund the fee on a discretionary basis. As far as the TENs allowance for your premises and for you personally are concerned, provided that you are able to give the required 24 hours notice, then your TENs quota will be reinstated both for the premises and for you personally.

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