WEST Fife businesses which face losing their drink licence for not completing a training course have been offered a radical alternative – give it up!

That’s the advice from John Barclay, a Fife Licensed Trade trainer, who says reapplying for the permission from scratch is better than “sitting around for the next five years”.

Last month the Press told you more than 1400 pubs, clubs, restaurants and shops across Fife run the risk of losing their drinks licence if licence-holders do not complete and pass the refresher course by 31st August.

The Fife Licensing Board warned that out of 1817 personal licence holders required to complete the course, only 401 have done so.

All personal licence holders who received their licence on 1st September 2009 have to undergo the training and inform the board by 30th November – or have their licence automatically revoked.

However, given the numbers and short timescale, Mr Barclay – a member of the Fife Licensed Trade Association – has now come up with the unconventional suggestion.

He explained, “The quicker you get your paperwork done, the better. But if people don’t get their refresher course before 31st August, they lose their licence for five years.

“If you don’t find a course before then, then what recourse do you get?

“The only thing I could think of is if you surrender your licence, then reapply for a full training course and start from scratch again.

“Otherwise you’re going to have to sit around for five years if you lose your licence.

“I’ve trained about 240 people between May and now.

“I’m trying to get as many people through as I can but I’m worried that people will say, ‘Oh, that’s me lost my licence.’ It’s people’s jobs, isn’t it?” He said there could be licence-holders who had undergone the refresher training, but just not submitted the paperwork to the board.

But he added, “By the same token, there could be a lot of people who haven’t done the training.

“It’s a tight schedule, but if you don’t get yourself on a course before 31st August and pass, your only recourse is to start from scratch, surrender your licence and start again.”