ENFORCE PASSPORT LAW OR BE PUNISHED
Venues now face threat of legal action
BOSSES at venues where vaccine passports are mandatory will face the threat of prosecution if they fail to enforce the controversial scheme.
New Scottish Government guidance says managers can be reported to the procurator fiscal if they fail to respond to a notice instructing them to improve compliance.
It also makes clear that police officers will play a prominent role in enforcing the scheme, alongside council officers.
Vaccine passports became mandatory from Monday – meaning sports clubs with crowds of more than 10,000 have to check customers have had both jabs before allowing them entry.
This also applies to nightclubs and late-night premises with music and dancing, indoor unseated events with more than 500 people in attendance and outdoor events with 4,000 or more people.
The guidance says designated council officers can issue a notice against anyone responsible for a venue contravening the requirement to enforce the scheme.
It says: ‘A person to whom a notice is given must, so far as reasonably practicable, comply with the notice and it is an offence to contravene such a notice.
‘Contravention of such a notice may be reported to the procurator fiscal.’
The guidance also reveals police will play a key role alongside council officers in enforcement of the scheme.
It says councils can verify businesses or event organisers are taking reasonable steps to ensure only double vaccinated people are entering premises, and can work alongside police ‘as required’.
It adds: ‘Joint working and visits conducted together will be for the two organisations to determine based on prioritisation and resourcing.’
The guidance also confirms late-night premises can carry out spot checks initially but will be expected to check all customers from Friday. An example of the type of measures that should be introduced includes issuing red wristbands to those who have provided evidence they have been double vaccinated, and asking DJs to make regular announcements that anyone without a red wristband must leave by 11.30pm.
George Mackenzie, operations manager of Cheerz bar and nightclub in Aberdeen, has raised concerns about the scheme.
He said many customers did not understand they needed the proof of double vaccination from midnight on Monday. He told BBC Radio Scotland: ‘We did have to refuse quite a few people coming in, which is very disappointing.’
Mr Mackenzie also raised concerns that the first weekend will be a ‘nightmare’ and much more difficult to manage.
Scottish Tory Covid recovery spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘The SNP’s vaccine passport scheme is immensely impractical, and the burden of implementing these checks is falling entirely on the shoulders of already-struggling businesses. There is nowhere near enough public awareness of the new rules, and over two million double-vaccinated Scots have yet to obtain proof of vaccination.’
He said changes are needed ‘before businesses and livelihoods are lost’. He added: ‘The SNP has devised an utterly shambolic scheme and left businesses to try to make sense of their baffling regulations under threat of prosecution. The suggestion that local police will have to play a day-today role in enforcing this scheme is extremely concerning, given the pressures the service is facing.’
It comes after an update to the app that reads vaccine passports. It will now show a green tick after someone’s details are scanned and they are allowed entry.
An update to the consumer app, which will present a QR code to venues instead of the vaccination
‘Devised an utterly shambolic scheme’
dates, will be released from noon tomorrow, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has said. It follows concern at the amount of medical data shown to gain entry.
Mr Yousaf praised the hospitality sector over its implementation of the scheme.
He said: ‘The rollout of the green tick display when QR codes are checked will reduce the amount of information shared and confirm only that a person has a valid certificate for use across Scotland.’