Court cases against rogue licensees could be abandoned across Scotland following the emergence of a legislative loophole which prevents any sanctions imposed now being carried beyond August.

Court cases against rogue licensees could be abandoned across Scotland following the emergence of a legislative loophole which prevents any sanctions imposed now being carried beyond August.

The country's largest licensing authority, Glasgow, is expected to scrap cases against off-licences, and pub and club owners, claiming it would waste taxpayers money to pursue them, while police are considering how best to deal with premises they want urgent action taken against.

The gap also means that licensing boards effectively have no means of dealing with very serious complaints from chief constables.

The cases on the cusp of being abandoned range from premises whose licenses are being axed for violence, to off-licenses selling to under-age drinkers.

Other licensing boards are expected to follow Glasgow.

The issue centres on the failure of the architects of Scotland's new alcohol laws to allow sanctions taken against licensed premises up to August 31 to continue beyond that date, when the old laws become redundant.

This means a board could suspend a licence today as a result of evidence brought to its attention by police - a Section 31 hearing. But as no provision has been made for such a suspension to continue under the new laws, the ban would only last a couple of months.

And many licensees, whose licences are suspended, immediately lodge an appeal, allowing them to continue to trade until such a point where a sheriff upholds or overturns a board's decision. This would probably mean they would not have to close at all.

In Glasgow, the board now appears to have given up on a string of cases which have already been appealed.

Speaking after scrapping one case, the chairman of the Glasgow board, Councilllor Stephen Dornan, said: "The licensing board now finds itself in a position where it effectively has no means of dealing with a very serious complaint from the Chief Constable."

The case in question, he said, was one were police wanted the licence suspended due to "very serious deficiencies in management practices" and the "threat to public order and safety".

He added: "The board's hands have been tied due to an omission in the new legislation and I offer no apologies for making the board's absolute frustration at this dire state of affairs known to the public.

"Not only has the board had to acknowledge that it is prevented from dealing with a new complaint, it also has to consider whether to make an extremely difficult and unprecedented decision not to defend a number of appeals which have been lodged against decisions of the board to suspend licences.

"These cases involved very serious matters such as the sale of alcohol to underage children and incidents of violence on premises leading to members of the public sustaining life-threatening injuries.

"However, continuing to defend appeals at great expense to the tax payer which will never result in a period of suspension being served, however serious the misconduct or wrongdoing on the part of the licence holder, is not in the public interest."

He added: "A senior licensing official at the Scottish Government has admitted that defending these appeals would be, and I quote, a waste of time and effort'."

Chief Inspector Stuart Neill, of Strathclyde Police, said: "We will continue to collate any information regarding incidents and/or poor management of licensed premises and consideration will be given to presenting this information to the licensing board."

The police believe they can continue to gather evidence and it will still have currency after August 31. Under the new laws they will be able to have a venue shut within 24 hours, while the premises would have to stay shut until the appeal is concluded.

However, lawyers say test case may have to be brought to find if pre-September evidence can be used under the new act.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Those subject to suspension proceedings under the 1976 Act may carry on trading until their appeal is heard - a loophole' which the 2005 Act closes.

"It is already open to Licensing Boards to use the 2005 Act to suspend licences, which could mean premises would be unable to trade come September."