The following information is being sent to event security providers, event and festival organisers, and related associations to mitigate the risk caused by unlicensed SIA staff.

We are investigating event security provider LS Armour Security Ltd of Barry, South Wales following allegations that the company supplied unlicensed operatives using fraudulent (cloned) SIA licences at festivals in the United Kingdom. The licences displayed a genuine name and licence number but a photograph of the unlicensed bearer.

We are aware that LS Armour Security Ltd have contracted to supply SIA licensed staff and stewards to events and festivals throughout July and August mostly as a sub-contractor or labour provider. We understand that LS Armour Security Ltd have been deploying correctly licensed staff alongside the cloned licences so events or festival organisers should not necessarily assume that an existing contract with the South Wales company will fail to deliver licensed staff. We are contacting organisers of events and festivals known to be using LS Armour Security Ltd and will work with them to ensure that operatives are correctly licensed.

If you are the primary contractor to an event, please check whether LS Armour Security Ltd are supplying your event with licensed staff.

We have introduced a bespoke email contact address: eventinformation@sia.gsi.gov.uk to hear from organisers or companies contracted with LS Armour Security Ltd to provide licensable activity. This includes both historic and future contracts. Please provide the date and details of the event, the names and licence numbers of any staff allocated to your event and your name and contact details. We will respond by telephone or email by the next working day.

We recognise that at this time of year event organisers and primary contractors may struggle to recruit sufficient SIA licensed staff and frequently have to resort to extensive sub contracting. This provides opportunity to rogue providers that, with appropriate checks by organisers and primary contractors, can be largely mitigated.

If SIA licensed staff arrive on site and are unknown to you, you must take all reasonable steps to ensure the person named on and in possession of the licence are the same person by requiring them to provide further evidence of identity. This will mitigate the risk of the cloned licence. This check can be supplemented by entering the person’s name and licence number into our register of licence holders at https://services.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/rolh

This type of unlawful conduct remains rare due to responsible organisers and security providers conducting appropriate due diligence. Please help keep events safe by continuing to deploy SIA licensed staff known to you or who have satisfied the above checks.

 

Ed Bateman

Deputy Director
Security Industry Authority

 

 

 

Source: www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk