Licensed premisis (non-alcohol) complaints

Aberdeen City Council’s Licensing team can investigate complaints regarding:

• Late hours catering
• Market operators
• Second hand dealers
• Sex shops
• Sexual entertainment venues
• Skin piercing and tattoo shops
• Street traders
• Window cleaners

If your complaint involves a criminal offence (such as racial abuse, violence, sexual assault etc) or breach of laws, please report it to Police Scotland first, and then where appropriate to the Licensing team. 

When making a complaint, please provide if possible:

• Your name 
• Email or postal address for further communication 
• The time and date the event the complaint is regarding 
• Any other persons present
• The licence holder/business name
• As much detail as of the incident as possible

Complaints must be delivered in writing.  

licensing@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Licensing
Legal Services
Aberdeen City Council
Business Hub 6 L1S
Marischal College
Aberdeen
AB10 1AB

All complaints will be acknowledged via email within 3 working days, with the complaint investigated and an outcome should be given with 10 working days. Should the outcome of the complaint not be possible within 10 working days, you will be updated on our progress and give a revised timescale. 

The Council's Licensing team deals with a wide range of licensing issues including taxi, private hire car, street trader, second hand dealer, skin piercing and tattoo, window cleaner, and metal dealer licensing. Due to this we do receive a large number of enquiries, observations, and complaints about licence holders. Please keep this in mind when you are waiting for an acknowledgement of your complaint. 

There are three potential outcomes after a complaint has been investigated: 

No action

• There is not enough evidence to suggest what happened. 
• There is evidence to suggest that the complaint is unwarranted.

Licence holder warning

• Evidence is obtained to suggest that more than likely the complaint is valid. 
• Following a response from the licence holder, there is reason to suggest that more than likely the complaint is valid. 

Licence holder referred to Licensing Committee  

• There is evidence of a serious nature or multiple breaches of licence conditions. 
• The licence holder has been subject to three similar complaints (including the current complaint) within the previous 2 years, where the outcome had been to issue a warning, or no action was taken due to lack of evidence. 

Please note, whilst we are committed to listening and investigating your concerns, we have limited powers, and therefore, we cannot guarantee any particular outcome. 

Any complaint received regarding a licence holder MUST be investigated, regardless of the nature of the complaint or the licence holder it relates to.  

The licence holder will be contacted via email with details of the complaint and be asked to respond to the complaint within 7 days.  

After collecting information regarding the complaint from the licence holder, and any other source, a decision will be made on the outcome and where a referral to the Licensing Committee is being considered, it will be referred to the Licensing Team Leader and/or a Solicitor before any such referral. The outcome of the complaint will be decided and relayed to the licence holder with any further action that may need to be taken. 
 All complaints received regarding a licence holder shall be held on file for 2 years after submission.