Fabric deelt statement over hun overwinning in de rechtszaal

Afgelopen december pleitte de politie voor een herziening van de vergunning van de beroemde Londense nachtclub Fabric. Dit vanwege de acht bezoekers die tegen de grond gingen door het gebruik van ecstacy, waarvan er vier de afgelopen drie jaar zijn overleden. Twee van deze doden vielen volgens de Islington Gazette in de twee maanden voor de herziening werd aangevraagd.

Fabric mocht open blijven, maar alleen onder de voorwaarden dat ze zeven drugshonden zouden inhuren, elke bezoeker naar hun ID moesten vragen, het cameratoezicht werd aangescherpt, en de club gerichter op drugs ging controleren aan de deur, schrijft de Evening Standard. Dit zorgde ervoor dat Fabric de eerste Londense club was waar regelmatig drugshonden rondliepen – een service waar ruim driehonderd pond per vier uur voor betaald moest worden. Medeoprichter van de club Keith Reilly vertelt in het artikel in de Standard dat "we alles doen wat we kunnen om mensen te stoppen met drugsgebruik in de club."

Vorige week, op 10 december, ging Fabric succesvol in hoger beroep tegen Islington Council. Op hun blog deelde de club een statement van hun advocaten, Woods Whurr, inclusief een eigen voorwoord: "We denken dat dit statement de meningen van veel bedrijven die in de nachtindustrie opereren reflecteert wat betreft deze voorwaarden."

Hieronder kun je het statement lezen (Engels) van de advocaten, waarin de redenen worden uitgelegd achter het besluit van de rechter om de invoer van drugs-opsporingshonden en ID-scanmachines af te wijzen:

"By the time the case came to appeal the only live issues were the imposition of two conditions. The first required Fabric to employ drugs detection dogs at the premises for 50% of the time the club was open. The second required the use of ID Scan machines, and for all customers to be "vetted" by the machine. These conditions had been stayed pending the appeal but we had carried out trials of both.

We instructed Gerald Gouriet QC, the leading Licensing Silk, and called evidence from, amongst others, Professor Fiona Measham (the country's leading academic on the social impact of drug use) and Robert Humpreys OBE (Chairman of PASS).

District Judge Allison allowed our appeal in full. In relation to the drugs dog she said, on the evidence she had heard, Islington were wrong to impose the condition as it would not promote the licensing objectives. The Judge went further and found that the use of a drugs dog could undermine the licensing objectives in a number of unintended ways, including causing drugs to remain in circulation that would otherwise have been confiscated under Fabric's thorough search procedures.

With regard to ID Scan, the Judge said that there was no evidence that the premises had issues with underage entry/sales; that to deploy it at Fabric would adversely affect the length of the queue, with possible public order consequences; and that it would create problems for the significant number of non-UK customers who would not necessarily carry photo ID. She said that Fabric had no issues with violent crime and disorder, which made ID Scan a more understandable control measure at other premises. She also noted that the ID Scan system Fabric had trialled for 7 weeks had not been interrogated once by the police, and that in 16 years of operation there had only been one incident at the premises where ID Scan might have been of some use in the prevention of crime – although she added that, on the facts, she doubted it would. Again she found that Islington were wrong to impose this disproportionate condition.

Gerald and I have spent the last year wrestling with the issues surrounding this case, and in particular the fact that young people have lost their lives after taking drugs on the way to, or in the venue. After hearing Gerald's submissions the Judge found that the operator was a beacon of best practice, and she urged Fabric to continue its diligence in what is a difficult environment for all who work in the Night time Economy – where so many young people seem prepared, regrettably, to put their lives at risk by taking unlawful drugs."

Lees het volledige statement hier.