Campbell v Glover [2005] NZLLA 845 (2 December 2005)

Last Updated: 24 January 2012

Decision No. PH 845-846/2005

IN THE MATTER of the Sale of Liquor Act 1989

AND

IN THE MATTER of an application pursuant to s.135 of the Act for suspension of General Manager’s Certificate number 39/GM/102/2001 issued to PAUL JOHN GLOVER

BETWEEN MICHELLE LEE CAMPBELL
(Police Officer of Palmerston North)

Applicant

AND PAUL JOHN GLOVER

Respondent

AND

IN THE MATTER of an application by PAUL JOHN GLOVER pursuant to s.123 of the Act for renewal of a General Manager’s Certificate

BEFORE THE LIQUOR LICENSING AUTHORITY

Chairman: District Court Judge E W Unwin
Member: Mr J C Crookston

HEARING at PALMERSTON NORTH on 7 November 2005

APPEARANCES

Sergeant S Oram - NZ Police – applicant for suspension and in opposition to renewal
Mr P J Glover – applicant for renewal and respondent

ORAL DECISION OF THE AUTHORITY

[1] Before the Authority are two applications. The first is an application brought by the Police for the suspension of a General Manager’s Certificate issued to Paul John Glover. The second application is made by Mr Glover for the renewal of the same certificate.

[2] Mr Glover has held his General Manager’s Certificate since 14 September 2001. It was renewed for three years without objection. When an application was made for the further renewal of the General Manager’s Certificate in September 2005, Mr Glover had been apprehended for driving with excess blood alcohol content. He was subsequently convicted in October leading to the application for suspension.

[3] The short facts disclose that Mr Glover was stopped by the Police on 26 August 2005. A subsequent blood test gave a result of 217 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. Mr Glover was fined a substantial amount and was disqualified from driving for six months. Of some historical interest was a conviction which was recorded in the Wellington District Court back in September 1986.

[4] These are the only concerns which the Police have about Mr Glover’s application for renewal of his General Manager’s Certificate. The criteria to be considered on any renewal, relate to Mr Glover’s character and reputation and the convictions recorded against him since the certificate was last renewed. In addition we must have regard to the manner in which he has managed the sale and supply of liquor pursuant to the licence with the aim of contributing to the reduction of liquor abuse. Finally, we are required to consider any matters dealt with in any report made under s.124 of the Act. These criteria are set out in s.126 of the Act.

[5] Mr Glover has moved on since he was first granted a certificate. He was the general manager of licensed premises in Palmerston North for approximately two and a half years. Since then he has been elevated to his present role where he works for a large company which owns and operates a variety of licensed premises in the lower North Island. Mr Glover is the internal auditor and training officer for the group, although he does use his General Manager’s Certificate from time to time in a relieving and assisting capacity.

[6] Mr Glover could not argue against the conviction. What he said was that the drinking caused him to act out of character, and make a bad decision. He believes that the incident is a one off matter. As a training officer he is well aware of his host responsibilities and his duty to the object of the Act.

[7] We are satisfied that the grounds for the application for suspension of the General Manager’s Certificate have been established. The ground is that the manager’s conduct has been such as to show that he is not a suitable person to hold the certificate. We agree with the Police that any cancellation of the certificate would be out of proportion to the incident, and could be considered to be unreasonable. On the other hand we believe that it is desirable to make a suspension order.

[8] In the decision of Martin Fergusson v Alastair Robert Lyon LLA PH 57/03 we stated:

“One of the ways of establishing a reasonable system of control over the sale of liquor to the public with the aim of contributing to the reduction of liquor abuse is to ensure that all managers have high standards on both sides of the bar. They are the people who are on duty at all times when liquor is being sold. They are responsible for compliance with the Act. The Authority has high expectations of all managers. They are the people who should be able to resist the temptation to turn a blind eye to any potential breach of the Act or the licence and consequential abuse of liquor.”

The Authority went on to say:

“It is our view that if managers are guilty of breaches of the drink driving provisions of the Land Transport Act they must expect their certificates to be suspended for a period. The length of the period should represent a balance between the seriousness of the offending and a maximum term of six months. In the majority of cases such a result will be seen by the Authority as a desirable step towards the promotion of the Act.”

[9] The Police respectfully submitted that Mr Glover’s conduct conflicts with the attributes required for a person to be considered suitable to hold a General Manager’s Certificate. We tend to agree.

[10] For the reasons that we have set out we propose to suspend the General Manager’s Certificate for five weeks commencing on Monday 7 November 2005.

[11] In the light of the suspension, the certificate will be renewed accordingly.

DATED at WELLINGTON this 2nd day of December 2005

Judge E W Unwin Mr J C Crookston
Chairman Member

Paul Glover.doc(aw)