Working Illegally at Peterborough City Council Sites

11 July 2008 Yesterday at Peterborough Magistrates Court, three security guards were found guilty of offences under Section 3(1) of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 - working without an SIA licence.

Clive Roy Fisher (41) of 15 Linden Hall, Wisbech; Richard Norman Olding (54) of 16 Lawson Avenue, Stanground; and Nicholas Field of 21 Broorkfurlong, Ravensthorpe in Peterborough were found working illegally at various Peterborough City Council sites in January 2008.

The men were employed by Central Security (East Anglia) Ltd. The three were given conditional discharges and ordered to pay costs of £245 each.

John Montague, SIA Head of Formal Investigation team said:

"Instead of obtaining an SIA licence to work legally, these security guards flouted the law, got caught and were subsequently, fined.

Buyers of security services can check the security company they use is fully compliant with the law and are only deploying SIA licensed operatives at their sites by checking the Register of Licence Holders on the SIA website."

Peterborough City Council's director of strategic resources John Harrison, said:

"When Central Security were contracted to carry out security duties for Peterborough City Council the terms of the contract stated that they were legally required to provide licensed personnel.

As soon as it came to our attention that these three men were not licensed they were no longer allowed to work at city council premises and we have co-operated fully with the SIA to bring them to justice.

We have subsequently changed our procedures to ensure this doesn't happen again and are happy with our new service provider."