Britain’s General Union, GMB, has claimed that the rapid phasing in of licensing people working in security there will be a lack of accredited personnel for this summer’s festivals.

Representatives from the union met with trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt, last week to call for the timetable to license stewards in the security industry to be phased in more slowly.

New government legislation calling for all security personnel to be licensed is due to come into force across the country between June this year and April 2005, however the GMB believes the current timetable does not allow sufficient time for all the necessary checks to be carried out. Under the new regulations, all applicants must prove they have basic security skills and do not have a criminal record.

GMB also believes that a third of those currently employed in the industry will not pass the accreditation immediately and will not have time for the necessary training before the summer.

Steve McIntyre, GMB security industry organiser, said: “GMB supports the Licensing Act entirely, but we believe the timetable is too strict and will lead to a shortage of accredited security personnel this summer when the country will need them most.

“GMB is asking the government and the SIA to relax the timetable to enable all the necessary jobs to be filled and the public to be protected at this summer’s festivals and events.”

At the end of last month GMB marked International Workers Memorial Day by adding to the increasing number of calls for the government to ban smoking in leisure venues across England and Wales.

It also denounced the voluntary Code of Practise on Passive Smoking at Work, saying it has failed to control the impact of passive smoking on employees in pubs, nightclubs, casinos and restaurants.

Mick Ainsley, GMB casinos organiser, said: “Our members are fed up with breathing in customers’ secondhand smoke. The government’s voluntary code of practise has utterly failed to protect them from daily exposure to risks from passive smoking.

“GMB wants the government to follow the Irish government’s bravery and ban smoking altogether in all Britain’s leisure venues.”