Applicants for SIA licences can now fill in their form online with the e-Fill service introduced by the Security Industry Authority.

e-Fill has been designed to make it easier and quicker for applicants to complete their application form.  It also has built in verification to reduce the likelihood of the form being completed incorrectly and returned to the applicant.

Applicants fill in the form online, then print, sign and post it manually along with the required supporting documents.

Users register on the SIA website and log in to use the service. If they have previously submitted an application, the online form pre-populates information such as the applicant’s name, date of birth, town of birth, email address, postcode and national insurance number. The system also allows security providers to complete the form on behalf of their staff.

SIA Director of Service Delivery Stephen McCormick said:

“We are delighted to offer this new service which makes it easier and quicker for applicants to complete their application form. Applicants can track the progress of their application and have online guidance at each stage of the process. The contact centre also has a dedicated option for those who need assistance using the new system.
The launch follows months of testing and trialling to ensure the facility is working correctly and effectively. The development of e-Fill is part of our commitment to introduce e-services and provide a modern service to our customers.”

Suzi says: This great news.  It will make it much easier to complete applications and will hopefully ensure less applications are returned for being incomplete.  As a company sponsor, we at beSmart Training welcome this new intiative.  It will make my job much easier and hopefully quicker too.  What it won’t do is ensure people provide the correct identification which is still a major problem with these applications.   beSmart offers regular SIA licensing courses for door supervision and vehicle immobilisation.  We also have just gained approval to offer the CCTV courses too and will be starting to run those towards the end of September.  For more information on any of our courses go to our website at www.besmart-training.co.uk, or call Suzi on 020 7237 6007.

I am so sick of hearing about rogue wheel-clamping companies and yesterday brought a whole new round of interesting c**p about it.

A training company in the south-west is now offering vehicle immobiliser courses where you turn up for one day, take a test (but don’t worry – they’ll even give you the answers to the questions), and then you’re qualified.  What a joke, and the awarding body don’t seem to give a s**t.

No wonder this industry is populated by rogues and scoundrels.  It really gets my goat.  Not only do we have rogue clampers, but rogue training companies too.  I hope they’re bl**dy proud of themselves, but I’m not going to name and shame…… they know who they are.

We, and by we I mean beSmart Training, offer the training for vehicle immobilisation so that individuals can apply for an SIA licence to practice.  We run legitimate, four-day courses, where you can actually be taught by someone who knows the industry and learn something that will be useful.  Hopefully, it gives you the knowledge and skills to make you a decent, professional, individual if you take up the wheel-clamping profession.

Vehicle Immobilisers will always be viewed as “the scum of the earth” by everyone who has ever been clamped – it’s understandable.  But clampers thank those lovely people with all their hearts, because without them the profession wouldn’t exist.  Imagine if we lived in a world where everyone just parked wherever they liked without penalty – GRID LOCK.

If anyone out there actually wants some excellent, decent, proper training, do please give us a call.  We operate from our training centre in London and run regular vehicle immobiliser courses.  Our next available course date is Tuesday 10th to Friday 13th August 2010.  You can get more details from our website at www.besmart-training.co.uk or call Sue on 0207 237 6007.

Physical Intervention Training for all New Door Supervisors from 1st June 2010

New training, available from 1st June, means that candidates now wishing to train as door supervisors will be required to pass a one-day physical intervention skills training session, as well as pass three examinations, in order to gain the qualification required for a Security Industry Authority licence to practice.

The new training is modular and brings the door supervisor training in line with Security Guard, CCTV and vehicle immobiliser training which was updated in March this year.

The door supervisor course now consists of four units:

Unit 1:        Working in the Private Security Industry
Unit 2:        Working as a Door Supervisor
Unit 3:        Conflict Management for the Private Security Industry
Unit 4:        Physical Intervention Skills for the Private Security Industry

Units one and three are common units across Security Guarding, CCTV, Door Supervision and Vehicle Immobilisation.  This means that individuals only have to take the assessment for these units once.  It will make it easier if an individual wishes to get multiple SIA licences.  For instance, if you pass all four units for door supervision, and at a future date wish to get an SIA (Security Industry Authority) vehicle immobiliser licence, you would only have to take the unit specific training for vehicle immobilisation which would be a one-day course.

As much of the legislation and operational procedures are the same across the security sectors, the SIA hope this new modular system will make the training process for SIA licences more accessible and simpler for individuals wishing to enter the industry.

Door supervision is currently the only sector which is required to undertake physical intervention skills training, and currently only new entrants are required to comply.  However, the Government are considering whether to introduce these physical intervention skills as a compulsory upgrade for existing licensed door supervisors.  However, if they are introduced it will not be before June 2011.

The physical intervention skills focus on non-violent, non-aggressive techniques which are intended to defuse conflict and violence rather than escalate situations.

It deals with:

*    Disengagement – this element focuses on basic defensive skills

• Assault avoidance and evasion
• Releases from grips and grabs
• Rescue skills

*    Holding – this element focuses on restrictive intervention

• Escorting skills
• Holding skills

All techniques are designed to be flexible, easy to learn and safe for door supervisors, customers and staff alike.

beSmart Training was instrumental in the assisting the BBC with their recent reporting of this new training.  Please see following links.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/front_page/newsid_10180000/newsid_10186100/10186122.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10201082.stm

AN UNLICENSED wheel clamping firm boss who fleeced dozens of innocent motorists has jailed for two years after his “business” was condemned as a ruthless scam.

Judge Philip Parker QC told Andrew Baker that his company, Inter Park UK, was nothing more than a simple con which had left its victims feeling robbed and bullied.

The judge criticised the rogue clamper for leaving motorists stranded and distressed.

Baker, of Pithall Road, Shard End, Birmingham, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to conspiracy to defraud drivers in Birmingham and other parts of the West Midlands between March 2007 and March 2008.

The 29-year-old, who has previous convictions for robbery, obtaining property by deception, harassment and theft, showed no emotion as he was sentenced.

A previous hearing was told that Baker left 36 victims – including some who had paid and displayed – in a state of distress after conning them out of more than £12,000.

Passing sentence, Judge Parker told the convicted burglar that he accepted the clamping business had operated legitimately when it was set up in 2005.

But the judge added that operation then became a “con” in which motorists parked legitimately saw their vehicles clamped and towed away before being held to ransom for up to £445.

The judge told Baker: “You were not in fact licensed for this activity, as it is accepted you should have been.

“Your website was a travesty of the truth, suggesting as it did that you worked closely with Trading Standards and the police.

“It’s plain by this fraud that in effect you illegally impounded people’s cars, not just causing them distress and inconvenience, but naturally feelings of real loss and panic.

“People felt held to ransom – the victims felt they had been bullied, felt that they had been robbed in ordinary terms, or as the prosecution opened it, fleeced.”

The business was operating as a simple scam with a false cloak of legitimacy, the judge said, ruling the offences to a confidence fraud.

“This to my mind is professional offending – there is a failure to respond to warnings… there is an abuse of power… there are multiple victims and in the end one can see this case as a ruthless exploitation of vulnerable persons,” he added.

Two other men who worked for Inter Park UK were also before the court and were each fined £500 after admitting one count of fraud.

The prosecution followed an investigation by Birmingham City Council’s Trading Standards department, which had received numerous complaints from furious motorists who felt they had been unfairly clamped or towed away by Inter Park UK.

Inter Park UK operated at numerous sites in Birmingham and Wolverhampton, where warning signs could not be seen easily, as well as clamping cars at three locations were it had no contractual right to do so.

Among those who fell victim to the firm were Christmas shoppers at a site in New Canal Street, Birmingham, who were told they had parked “inches over the line” even though the lines were not clearly painted.

On one occasion in February 2008, Inter Park UK removed several cars on what turned out to be land owned by Walsall Council, which had no agreement with the firm.

Birmingham City Council believes that Inter Park UK may have been netting up to £3,000 per day and that many motorists were so intimidated that they did not contact the authorities.

In a statement, Councillor Neil Eustace, Birmingham’s Chair of Public Protection, called for greater powers to allow the authority to regulate the car-clamping sector.

Mr Eustace said: “Birmingham City Council’s Public Protection Committee has made several representations to the government calling for further regulations to curb the excessive practices still engaged in by a number of clamping companies, and the misery that they ultimately cause to their victims.”

Suzi says: It’s people like this that have brought the whole profession of vehicle immobilisation into disrepute.  There are many vehicle immobiliser organiations who operate ligitimate and professional companies with only licenced operatives.  With the Governments proposals to licence vehicle immobiliser companies soon, the profession will become even more legitimate, although we all know that everyone will still love to hate a clamper.  beSmart Training offer top-class vehicle immobiliser training on a regular basis.  We would like to think that all the people we have trained adhere to their training and offer a fair and legitimate service.

Prior to the launch of the new door supervisor course on June 1st 2010, beSmart Training are running a one-day physical intervention course for Door Supervisors and Security Guards who already hold an SIA licence or the relevant qualification for one of those licences.

It has not yet been decided if physical intervention will be compulsory refresher training for licensed door supervisors, but following the consultation earlier this year, there is an announcement expected in the next few months.

Why not enrol now and be ahead of the game.  Also become trained to the same level as door supervisors WILL be trained to from June 2010 onwards.

beSmart’s physical intervention course is accepted as accredited prior learning for the new door supervisor qualification and only costs £100.00 plus VAT for the one-day course, including all handbooks and certification.

If you’re interested, please call Sue on 020 7237 6007, or book online at www.besmart-training.co.uk/physical-intervention-training/.