DOZENS of pubs, clubs and restaurants across Irvine and Kilwinning could be running the risk of losing their license because they haven’t completed vital training.

North Ayrshire Licensing Board have issued an urgent warning to licence holders after learning less that 20 per cent have responded to reminders about refresher training.

Under national regulations, licensed premises must have a premises manager who holds a personal licence to operate legally. In addition, a personal licence Holder must be on the premises to operate after 1am.

All personal licence holders who received their licence before September 1, 2009 have to complete refresher training by the end of August, 2014. They are also responsible for informing North Ayrshire Licensing Board that they have carried out the training by December 1, 2014.

Should they fail to complete the training or inform the board, their licence will be revoked automatically.

North Ayrshire Licensing Board has written to all 869 premises licence holders issuing deadline reminder letters including information on the requirements. However, at a recent meeting it was confirmed that only 168 had responded.

Chair of the board, Councillor Ronnie McNicol, said: “I would like to impress on licensed premises just how important it is to undertake refresher training.

“As a board we are obliged to uphold national licensing laws. This means that, should a premises fail to complete the training or inform us when they do, there will be no option but to revoke their licence, with no recourse to appeal.

“This is obviously a concern with so many premises having failed to complete the training with just two months remaining before the deadline.

“I would urge them to make sure that they sign up for the refresher training at the earliest possible opportunity.” Visit www.scplh.info for more information on training and requirements.