By James Atkinson
A bar licensee who sought to overturn a brief suspension of his liquor licence has been hit with a higher penalty on appeal.
The licensee of Salt Bar Lounge in Shearwater, Tasmania, had his licence suspended for four days for failing to have patrons removed within 15 minutes of the required closing time, and failure to maintain CCTV recordings or provide them when requested.
On appealing the ruling last month, the licensee argued that his offences were at the lower level, and the suspension would cause him undue financial harm.
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He claimed that closure by suspension would "disadvantage the public by denying them access to the service offered".
But the Tasmanian Licensing Board said that weighed in balance with the need to ensure compliance by the state's liquor licensees, the risk of serious inconvenience to the public was negligible.
"The public will put up with closed premises, and will find others," they said.
"In less well served areas, perhaps like the Shearwater area, they will at least become aware that they must vacate on time and contribute to the licensee obeying his obligations if they are to benefit from the hospitality and service available during licensed hours."
The Licensing Board said the four-day suspension was too lenient for the licensee's breaches, which were not insignificant.
They increased the penalty by a further two weeks, in effect bringing the total suspension to 14 days.