Bar owner’s responsible service of alcohol duties

A bar owner was linked to an assault involving a patron that was evicted from his establishment. The incident almost cost the bar owner his licence and forced him to pay a fine of $4000.

The patron was assaulted by the bar owner in the parking lot outside the bar after evicting the patron from the bar. The bar owner then had the tapes of the incident destroyed and altered CCTV camera configuration in an attempt to obstruct justice and keep police from uncovering the truth.

This incident is quite scary for patrons, to think that bar owners can engage in this type of behaviour. No matter what the patron does to provoke the bar staff and management, they still need to behave in a professional manner and exercise their responsible service of alcohol duties.

The fact that the licensee was entrusted with permission to sell alcohol meant that he was expected to behave in a more responsible manner, instead he exercised poor judgement.

While bar owners do have a responsibility to deny service of alcohol to unduly intoxicated patrons and evict people that are hostile, overly intoxicated or aggressive from their establishment, they do not have the right to resort to violence. Tact needs to be employed when dealing with unduly intoxicated or problematic patrons.