Scam warning for personal and premises licence holders

Crawley Borough Council is aware of ongoing incidents where premises and personal licence holders have been telephoned, advising them that their licence has expired, and that they need to make immediate payment to reinstate it.

Personal licences – these no longer expire, so you are not required to pay a renewal fee. The only circumstances where a fee would become due, would be when you change details on the licence, such as your home address.

Premises licences – an annual invoice is sent to the registered address of the Premises Licence Holder, requesting that payment is made and offering several methods of payment via the council. In exceptional circumstances, the licence holder may be contacted by phone to advise that payment is outstanding. The Licensing Authority will not routinely call a licence holder to take payment over the phone.

Premises licences do not expire and council officers would never use this terminology in relation to such licences. 

If you are in any doubt as to the validity of the caller, you should decline to make payment over the phone, and telephone Crawley Borough Council on 01293 438000, and ask to speak to the Licensing team. Alternatively, you can email licensing@crawley.gov.uk.

If you do need to make a payment, this can be done via our making payments webpages.

If you believe you have been targeted by this scam or have any relevant information, please report the incident to the Licensing team at Crawley Borough Council via email licensing@crawley.gov.uk, Sussex Police on 101 and Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.