Banning Procedure

ALL DECISIONS MADE BY THE LICENSEE (MANAGEMENT) ARE FINAL AND CANNOT BE APPEALED.

PLEASE NOTE

The Licensee's decision on all bans is final. We reserve the legal right to refuse admission to our venues for any reason. If you're excluded from our venues every effort will be made to contact you within 7 working days with the length of your ban, this however is not always possible so if you have any queries, please contact sudisc@essex.ac.uk and your question will be answered. Management will also inform you on the evening of any possible ban. They however will not give you a length until any investigation has taken place. 

Please note that if you are involved in any activities which are illegal or contravene Union policies, procedures or values you may be banned; the length of your ban and the Union services which it covers will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Ban length will reflect the level of seriousness of each case.

Under the Licensing act 2003 failure to leave a licensed area or trying to reenter the area after being asked to leave when a person is drunk or disorderly and asked by the designated premises supervisor is committing an offence. This is noted in the licensing act 2003 Part 7 Offences section 143.

Please be aware that when requested you are required to hand over ID to a member of Essex university staff, Student Union staff and employees of (Private Security). This is in your student conduct document. Which can be found on your code of conduct on page 32 section A12.

This new policy comes into effect on the 1st of September 2022. Any bans issued under the previous policy will not be reviewed, this policy does not apply retrospectively.

We recommend you read this before you purchase any tickets for events as refunds are not given if you are banned.

If you break the SU Venues Policies, UK Licensing Law, SU Policies or University Policies you may be subject to further action which could include a ban from some, or all of the SU Venues or spaces in addition to wider action from the University Student Conduct or national bodies such as the Police.

Please note that the Licensing Act 2003 gives Licensees (the people that run the venue), the power to prevent entry to the venue for any reason to protect the 4 main licensing objectives which are The prevention of Crime, Public Safety, The Prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm. this action may not be appealed. SIA Door Supervisors acting on behalf of the licensee may also refuse access for any reason. Whilst we have this authority, we only exercise it with good reason.

Being Banned from an SU Venue:

As mentioned above if you break one of the polices listed above you may receive a ban. Incidents typically fall into one of four categories:

* Minor Incident (1 week to 4 weeks)

*Major Incident (4 weeks to 6 months)

* Severe Incident (6 months to lifetime)

*Sick/Urinating Fine (Banned until fine paid)

Depending on what has occurred the manager will decide whether it is a Minor, Major or Severe Incident.

Some examples of a MINOR incident would be sneaking into the venue without a ticket, urinating in the smoking area or using another students’ registration card. Vaping inside the Venue

Some examples of MAJOR incidents are Fighting, Drugs for personal use, refusing to hand over ID resulting in Campus security attending or police. Any Kind of anti-social behavior this includes but not limited to Re-fusing to leave a licensed venue, shouting abuse to staff or customers, and blocking escape routes.

Some examples but not limited to, SEVERE incidents are possession of a large number of drugs, threat or use of a weapon, theft, a serious physical assault or sexual assault, bullying/harrsement, Spiking another person.

 If you are sick or Urinate inside the venue anywhere other than inside the toilet bowl. There will be a ÂŁ10 cleaning fine which can be paid at SU reception. This will also incur a ban until the fine Is paid.

All incidents are looked at on a case-by-case basis and various factors are taken into consideration such as previous behavior in the venue, complying with reasonable requests for information, repeated involvement in incidents and the seriousness of the incident. Following this review a licensee (Venue manager) they may decide to issue a ban. The length of the ban and which venues it will apply to will then be communicated to the student. If an incident is extremely serious the SU may take the decision to issue a life ban.

The managers will try to complete all investigations within 30 days of the incident, although this is not always possible. Any tickets purchased for events will not be refunded in the instance that a student is banned.

The Ban may not be appealed, and the licensee’s decision is final. If you break your ban by trying to enter a venue whilst banned, you may receive a further extension to your ban.

Where can I be banned from?

The severity of your actions or where they occurred will have an impact on where you are banned from or for how long. Where you are banned from will be communicated in your banning email

Repeat offences in one venue may lead to you being excluded from all venues or SU outlets.

 The main SU licensed Venues are:

SU Bar

The Atruim

Top Bar

In-between bar

Sub Zero

The Summer Ball

Any other Licensed events (please contact SU reception if unsure)

The Summer Ball:

If you are banned from any SU venue you will not be able to attend the Summer Ball if it falls within your ban period.

If you have any questions about bans you can contact sudisc@essex.ac.uk

If you think you might have a problem with alcohol or drugs you can contact SU Advice for confidential help and advice on suadvice@essex.ac.uk.

Please note for the majority of Ban's the length of the ban refers to "Term Time Weeks" eg if you were banned for two weeks on the final day of term this would roll over to the first two weeks of the new term. All Ban lengths will be communicated clearly in emails sent.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/contents