PTA Mums - alcohol licence help please for school event

[SecondhandRose]

How easy is it to get a licence to sell alcohol at a school event? We have always got them through the local pub then they end up providing the alcohol which completely chokes our profit.

Is there any way of avoiding the licence? For instance including alcohol in the price of a ticket? Or selling raffle tickets that include a free drink?

You should be able to get a temporary event licence from your local council. You're usually allowed a few in a 12 month period (can't remember exactly how many) Our council charges £21.

Contact the licensing department at your local council and they'll give you the details.

This is what we do for our PTA events

Its easy!!!

You need to ask you local council for a Temporary Events Notice form.

You have to send 2 copies of the filled form back to the council and one to the chief of police in your area at least 10 working days before the event.

JUst remember to fill all the details in on the form and the times of the event - put the finidh later rather than earlier so if the evening goes well u can carry on and ownt have to get everyone to leave at time stated!!

you can get a one off licence. chose someone who is always available for events. That person will have to appear before a magistrate and demonstrate the know the licensing laws (which are very simple you just have to show how you would deal with underage and drunk people - ask for ID and don't serve etc) Once you've done it once you can gt as many as you need without appearing again. You just have to give a little notice (3-4 weeks)

Thank you for that everyone. Has anyone held an event without a licence using the raffle ticket and free beer system?

Our PTA have always in the past purchased a license but were told by someone in the know that we could get away with not having one if we didn't 'sell' alcohol but ask for 'donations' instead & put a board up with 'suggested donations' wtitten on it, so in theory, the whole thing is the same as running the bar. We have done this at a few events & no -one has ever given less than the suggested amount.

Not sure if this is entirely legal, so don't blame me if you all get thrown in jail for License dodging

I am chair of our pta, you can fill in a tel up to 6 weeks before, any longer and they can revoke it.

BTW the "free" system is totally illegal and as the chair etc you will be the person liabel (sp) for prosecution if found out.

Unlikely to happen as I'm sure the police have better things to do, but I am a scaredey cat over these things (would never wait on a double yellow line etc)

Alfielooloo's suggestion is completely illegal, please don't do it.

Also the 'buy a ticket get free beer' idea is also illegal, anything that promotes binge or irresponsible drinking is now illegal.

Is this is England? Not sure about England, but certainly in Scotland, if you want to apply for a license you will need to hold a Personal License first. This involves going on a course (one day) and sitting an exam.

They also changed the rules for applying for a license this year, however temporary or occasional licenses are still fairly easy to get.

ComeOVeneer - its actually not unlikely at all as its not 'the police', its the licensing police and therefore, they really don't have better things to do

DSM sounds like scotland is quite different than england. We just fill the forms for each event.

Really? Certainly, in Scotland and Northern Ireland, you have to hold a license to sell alcohol. I would have thought England and Wales would be the same.

You have to apply for a TEL for each event, but don't have to have a personal licence or attend a course beforehand. Certainly in my time as chair we have just filled in the paperwork paid the fee and submitted it.

Wow - England is much more relaxed than Scotland then!

I really don't see what all the fuss is about, at the end of the day we are simply trying to raise funds for the children. I personally think we pay far too much taxes etc to the local Councils, this is just one more way of getting some of our hard earned cash out of us. I don't know about you, but out little village School fete does not encourage binge drinking & I certainly have never seen any go on. I know it's the law but that doesn't make it right, this country has a lot of daft laws if you ask me. What or PTA does doesn't harm anyone, I'm not saying any of you should do it, but it works for us

You think you shouldn't need a license to sell alcohol as its your PTA and its not harming anyone.

Do you think the same logic should apply for other licenses, say, gun licenses?

I hope no one gets hurt at one of your little village fetes, as you mat find yourself in a lot of trouble.

Anyway, your choice.

Gun licenses are a different matter altogether, it's common sense why you need a license for a gun.

We have been told that what we do is ok.

If anyone was to get hurt at one of our little village fetes, we would not be in a lot of trouble as all of our events are covered with public liability insurance. We also take out a license to sell raffle tickets, it's a wonder we have any money left to spend on the children!

I didn't want to get into a slanging match on this subject, I just added my comments to the thread on what our school PTA have done a couple of times. I am now going to investigate the matter further as if what we are doing could get anyone into trouble then we will obviously have to go back to the old way of doing things, filling the local councillors pockets with funds that should be going to the children.

Well, in my opinion it is also common sense to need a license to sell alcohol.

Occasional licenses are very cheap, its hardly a big deal.