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Lionel Fynn |
Philip Day |
Jon Payne |
Sandra Graham |
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Partner |
Partner |
Solicitor, Barrister |
Consultant solicitor |
Licence Appeals
All licenses have a mechanism of appeal if a decision is made which you feel is not acceptable. Most appeals go to the magistrates court and if so, then there are particular procedures that have to be followed. It is not always necessary to engage the services of a licensing solicitor who is expert at undertaking appeals, but attempting an appeal with no experience is a very difficult and frequently unsuccessful thing to do. In particular, you should bear in mind that with most licensing appeals ;
- There is a limited period of time to appeal - normallly 21 or 28 days from the date of the original decision, depending on the type of licence.
- The appeal usually has to be made in a particular format, called a 'complaint', which spells out why the appeal is being made and what was considered to be wrong about the original decision.
- The appeal considers the matter afresh - it as if any previous hearing never took place
- Written statements are needed from witnesses
- The procedure in court may be different to the initial hearing
- The magistrates may come to the same decision or a different one. This decision may be what you want, but you need to be aware that it could also be one that you do not.
- Magistrates have the power to award costs as they see fit - this can mean that if you win, you may get some or all of your costs back. Alternatively, if you lose, you should be prepared for an order which means that you have to pay some or all of the other parties costs. Traditionally, it can be quite difficult to obtain full costs against a licensing authority even if you win, unless the authority has acted unreasonably.
Appealing a licensing decision is therefore something that you should consider carefully and some people decide to take out an insurance policy in case things go wrong.
We recommend that if you are considering appeal, it is well worth talking the matter through with an expert lawyer before you make your final decision.
Because it is so important, we offer a short period of free informal advice or a fixed-fee consultation
