Security company director fined after failing to check operative’s licence

On Monday 15 March, Yasin was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £1,400 plus a victim surcharge of £100. Prime London Services Ltd was fined a total of £1,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £1,541.25 plus a victim surcharge of £100. Yasin had originally pleaded not guilty to the charges, but then changed his plea when he heard the evidence against him.

Nathan Salmon of the SIA’s criminal investigation team observed: “Adeel Yasin failed to undertake proper checks on the operatives for which he was responsible. He should have made sure that any staff supplied to him by a subcontractor were correctly licensed and therefore working legally. His negligence has cost him a substantial amount of money. It may yet cost him his career in the security industry and his livelihood.”

The SIA investigator found the unlicensed operative working at the BP Garage in Stadhampton, Oxfordshire on 22 October 2019. The security officer claimed that he was covering for a friend and that he had left his licence at home. He left the site when the investigator went back to his car to check the SIA’s licence records.

Subsequently, the SIA contacted Yasin, whose company had been providing security for the site. Yasin said that the officer had been supplied to his business by a subcontractor. Yasin told SIA investigators that he had previously checked the licence of the security officer “from a distance” by car headlight during a night-time visit to the site.

Though the SIA has not been able to identify the officer as yet, an inspection of the site signing-in sheets gave investigators reason to believe that the individual had in fact worked on several previous occasions.