Rodley v Hall [2008] NZLLA 1379 (30 September 2008)

New Zealand Liquor Licensing Authority

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Rodley v Hall [2008] NZLLA 1379 (30 September 2008)

Last Updated: 9 February 2010

Decision No. PH 1379/2008

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 or cancellation of Club Manager’s Certificate number 049/CM/3/2008 issued to KAREN PATRICIA HALL (aka STURGESS)

BETWEEN AMANDA MARION RODLEY

(Police Licensing Officer of Wellington)

Applicant

AND KAREN PATRICIA HALL (aka STURGESS)

Respondent

BEFORE THE LIQUOR LICENSING AUTHORITY

Chairman: District Court Judge E W Unwin
Member: Ms J D Moorhead

HEARING at WELLINGTON on 2 September 2008

APPEARANCES

Sergeant C A Marner – NZ Police – applicant
No appearance by or on behalf of the respondent
Mr R Putze – Wellington District Licensing Agency Inspector – to assist

ORAL DECISION OF THE AUTHORITY

[1] Before the Authority is an application for the suspension or cancellation of a Club Manager’s Certificate issued to Karen Patricia Hall (aka Sturgess). The application was filed with the Authority in late June of this year. The ground for the application is that Ms Hall's conduct has been such as to show a lack of suitability to hold the certificate.

[2] The evidence shows that Ms Hall was the driver of a motor vehicle at about 10.00 pm on 27 February 2008. She was stopped at a Police alcohol checkpoint and showed signs of recent alcohol consumption. The breath test procedures returned a positive result of 890 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

[3] The offending was to some extent aggravated by two previous historical but nevertheless relevant convictions. The first of these was in 1989, when Ms Hall had a breath alcohol level of 700 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The second incident was in 1992, where the level of alcohol in the breath was 737 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

[4] In respect of the most recent matter the respondent was ordered to carry out community work and received a disqualification period of one year. The offending came to light when the Police received an application for a special licence for a 50th birthday party at the “Island Bay Bowling Club”. Ms Hall was the nominated manager.

[5] Ms Hall has not appeared to give any explanation for the offending or to advise what action she might have taken in relation to this most recent event. Despite her non-appearance and apparent apathy towards the retention of the certificate, we believe that a suspension is more desirable and appropriate than cancellation at this time. It may well be that the appearance before the District Court about this third conviction, has left Ms Hall with some embarrassment about the matter.

[6] The Police referred to the decision of Martin Ferguson v Alastair Robert Lyon LLA PH 57/2003 in which it was said:

“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 the 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 object of the Act.”

[7] Taking into account the level of alcohol in the breath, the lack of any explanation or appearance, and the previous matters, we propose to suspend the Club Manager’s Certificate number 049/GM/3/2008 for a period of three months commencing on Monday 15 September 2008.

DATED at WELLINGTON this 30th day of September 2008

Sara Cunningham
Secretary

Karen Hall.doc(aw)