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Bouncers go out on strike

9:02am Monday 17th March 2008

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BOUNCERS bonded together in a show of unity over the weekend against an agency they claim is putting the public's safety at risk.

The doormen left their posts for about an hour from 9.30pm on Saturday from bars including Lava Lounge, Walkabout and Revolution, joining together between Fleet Street and Bridge Street.

The mass walkout was to protest against delays in the renewing of their licences by the Security Industry Association (SIA) which has left many door staff out of work.

The Association of Swindon Door Supervisors said that the badges were vital to their occupation and if they were caught with non-valid licences, they faced stiff fines by the SIA.

A spokesman also said that some of them had been waiting six months for their new badges and in the meantime their livelihood was at risk and the public they were supposed to protect were in danger.

He said: "This is an extremely frustrating situation for everyone involved.

"All of our members have followed the guidelines set by the authority and even paid them £245 and they're still unable to deliver the badges on time.

"In Swindon alone more than 50 door supervisors cannot work because their badges have not been renewed.

"It is a question of health and safety, because if the badges aren't renewed there are not enough door staff, therefore in time of emergency customers' welfare is at risk.

"Our members have done everything humanly possible to have our badges renewed.

"All they want to do is earn a living and that has been taken away from them."

The council's licensing manager Lionel Starling, said he sympathised with the bouncers' concerns.

"Their inability to process licences in good time is causing both the police and the council concern for public safety," he said.

"The SIA should arrange for three-year badges to be given an automatic three-to-six-month extension, to allow time for an acceptable level of service to be put in place and for them to clear the backlog.

The SIA, which is under the remit of the Home Office, has said that although it didn't feel it appropriate to comment on the actions of the door supervisors it did admit to delays while processing applications.

Jessica Clinkett, communications officer for the SIA said: "We have had functionality problems with our system and have been having delays.

"We have been doing all we can to process applications as soon as possible."

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Your Say YourSwindon Advertiser

Big Mac, says...
9:09am Mon 17 Mar 08

The Home Office? Messing something up?

Surely not?

Looks like Labour can kiss goodbye to the votes of bouncers for a while!

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angry monkey, Swindon says...
9:21am Mon 17 Mar 08

I'm just waiting for the reveleation that they've put the Bouncers bank details on facebook or something equally as daft

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merv, swindon says...
9:49am Mon 17 Mar 08

Am I missing something I thought it was ilegal to be working on the doors without a sia all us who have a badge the message is it is ok to work without one blame it on sia

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
10:12am Mon 17 Mar 08

Merv as a badge holder I am sure you will know the chaos when they introduced the system, as I read the article these are badge holders awaiting their renewals not new applicants. It was indeed another bright idea like the Licensing Act 2003 which was and is still a fiasco. There are still LA's across the country who still have not sent Premises Licenses 2 years on.

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merv, swindon says...
10:36am Mon 17 Mar 08

fair shout however 6 months wait is steep why dont the council take over issue of the badges if the sia cannot cope

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angry monkey, Swindon says...
10:57am Mon 17 Mar 08

merv wrote:
fair shout however 6 months wait is steep why dont the council take over issue of the badges if the sia cannot cope
I dont think they are legally allowed to Merv

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merv, swindon says...
11:16am Mon 17 Mar 08

Well they are legal to shut down venues and to get involved and support and sia told me they are the ones who inforce sia regulations and key word lionel starling Licensing officer

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angry monkey, Swindon says...
11:36am Mon 17 Mar 08

Licensing as in pub licensing.

Not licencing Bouncers. Not licencing Drivers or fishing.

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merv, swindon says...
11:45am Mon 17 Mar 08

angry monkey wrote:
Licensing as in pub licensing. Not licencing Bouncers. Not licencing Drivers or fishing.
taxi drivers are covered by the council there is a point in the article that mr starling that his main concern was public safety and the time protest was held the underline is he cannot be that concerned as the guys with expired badges still on the doors he should show support by speeding up the process if he is bothered about public safety

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
12:22pm Mon 17 Mar 08

Merv the SIA have a whole team of regional inspectors responsible for the supervisions of the badge holders, SBC are not involved in this enforcement process except in notifying the SIA about possible abuses.

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
12:22pm Mon 17 Mar 08

Merv the SIA have a whole team of regional inspectors responsible for the supervisions of the badge holders, SBC are not involved in this enforcement process except in notifying the SIA about possible abuses.

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bored, says...
12:41pm Mon 17 Mar 08

it's a long procedure & the SIA still get it wrong - it should be controlled more locally.

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merv, swindon says...
12:47pm Mon 17 Mar 08

Robert Feal-Martinez wrote:
Merv the SIA have a whole team of regional inspectors responsible for the supervisions of the badge holders, SBC are not involved in this enforcement process except in notifying the SIA about possible abuses.
yes but the "Whole team" consists of 30 inspectors and this is for the whole of uk. says it all really. sia are reliant on SBC and POLICE to run so they are the eyes and ears and looks to me both of the latter are closed off to whats staring them in the face...

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merv, swindon says...
1:02pm Mon 17 Mar 08

oops! did i say too much

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merv, swindon says...
1:38pm Mon 17 Mar 08

there is one lesson in life in which i was taught honesty is always the best policy and lies are easily undercovered or open for mis interuptation let that be a lesson to us all

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Captain Sensible, Near Swindon says...
3:15pm Mon 17 Mar 08

Well at least with the bouncers on strike the numbers of random beatings meated out to members of the public should reduce.,.

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pttp, swindon says...
4:48pm Mon 17 Mar 08

oh my god, you lot really dont have a clue do you. These are doorman who have done literally all they can to get there renewals they have been waiting in excess of 20 weeks when they were told it would be 8 weeks at maximum, there is no other reason why these decent people who just want to earn an honest living cant, the sia have been quick enough to cash there cheques. As for captain sensible maybe next time your getting a kicking for no fault of your own from a member of the public whilst out drinking, cause it does happen, maybe the doorman should just stand back and watch cause the blame is always put on them when they are just doing a job which is what there paid for. Yeah ok there are a few idiots out there but dont tar all doorman with the same brush.

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angry monkey, Swindon says...
4:56pm Mon 17 Mar 08

I dont think anyone other than capt not very sensible has disagreed with anything you have said pttp.

The SIA clearly need to pull their fingers out of their arses.

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pttp, says...
5:09pm Mon 17 Mar 08

This was the whole point of this protest not to cause trouble but to make a stand, over 100 peolpe turned up to support this including police because in the long run it affects them as well. BORED you had a very good point as well it should be run more locally and i dont know if you know but thats how it used to be done, before the national sia money making scheme came in in 2004, you had to have a swindon door badge or whatever town you were working in, there was no trouble organising it then so really they had no reason to change it. The sia was suppose to be so they could keep a better track on who was working yet they gave badges to 10,000 illegal immigrants and cant even sort out the honest people.

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John, Oxford says...
5:53am Tue 18 Mar 08

And the point is..........?
I wouldn’t use any club or bar that needed to employ thugs to protect people from the thugs that they allow to drink into unconsciousness.
So these no-necks can’t work? Big deal

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merv, swindon says...
8:23am Tue 18 Mar 08

2 shay cpt sensible and john just because they move from the front door to in side the club does not cover in fact they are working and why raise the point 20 weeks later why not week 6 as stated by sia delay 6-8 weeks if I had bills to pay I would be doing all I could to get my badge also as quoted 100 bouncers on strike or even over 50 taking action if this were the case the police would have a problem because there would be no door staff left to man the doors.

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Robert Feal-Martinez, Swindon says...
8:43am Tue 18 Mar 08

The perceived wisdom was that it would save Door Supervisors from having to pay for numerous different badges. But of course as with most things this Government have done in relation to Hospitality they couldn't even sort out the various definitions of what a door supervisor was. No doubt at some point there will be a hike in license fees to cover the extra staff they claim to need.

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merv, swindon says...
1:06pm Tue 18 Mar 08

lets look at another way, if there are delays in some cases there might well be a reason, Criminal record checks are there for a reason and thats where some of the delays are coming from!!!

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