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Two BC liquor inspectors tried to fine a Nanaimo bar $3,000 for over serving two people in a ‘covert operation’ but their case was tossed when video evidence refuted most of their claims.

They said one woman was so drunk, she tried to take a sip of beer and missed.

“(She) was propping her head up with her wrist and her eyes were closing. She got up and went to the DJ booth. She was not walking straight and stumbling. She returned to the table exhibiting the same diminished motor skills and missed her mouth trying to take a sip of beer,” an unnamed liquor inspector told the general manager of the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, according to a recently published decision.

The two inspectors were conducting a routine inspection just before midnight at The Palace Hotel in January. They immediately noticed the woman who was with a man who they said was just as drunk. They said they saw the same couple, both in their 50s, at another bar being denied entry. They could hear the couple speaking loudly and slurring their words.

“Their discussion was incoherent.”

They said they saw the woman swaying in her seat and both were seen closing their eyes for lengthy periods. They said the man went to the bar, was seen “fumbling" with his cash, bumped into someone, then “stumble(d) and grabbed the bar to steady himself," they said. He ordered two more beers at the bar and returned to their table.

Later, “she got up and went to the DJ booth. Afterwards, she had problems going back to her seat. She was seen dancing by herself and appeared to be quite intoxicated,” they reported. "The inspectors decided they had seen enough.”

The inspectors would normally have raised the issue with management at the time so it could be addressed but on this night they “had a concern for their safety which is absolutely their right to assess when conducting a cover inspection.”

The problem was, none of those observations were seen on video when presented to adjudicator Paul Devine.

Paul Manhas, the owner of the facility, said he has been in business for 30 years and never had an issue with liquor inspectors. He testified the two people weren’t as drunk as the liquor inspectors made it seem — as backed up by video evidence.

Devine said the inspectors were “wrong” about seeing the woman stumble near the DJ booth and that she couldn’t walk straight. The video also didn’t show the man “fumbling” with his cash or tripping.

Manhas said he spoke to the patrons that night and said they didn’t appear to be overly intoxicated. She stayed and danced by herself well into the night.

"Her dancing may not be described as elegant,” Devine wrote. “But she turned in circles and waved her hands without staggering or bumping into other dancers or patrons. She did not appear to be intoxicated when performing this activity.”

Devine cancelled the proposed penalty of $3,000 or closure for a set time and had some pointed words for the inspectors who also left the two people they described as overly intoxicated in the bar when they departed.

"The conclusion reached by the inspectors is contradicted in some significant respects by the CCTV video evidence. In particular, the conclusion that (the woman) was intoxicated while dancing and staggered when she walked to the DJ booth is not supported. The inspectors observed that the couple had been refused admission at another facility they were inspecting but the reason for the refusal was not stated.

The inspectors had concerns about identifying themselves inside the licensed facility. There was no apparent management presence there as the Manager was inside the DJ booth. Since the inspectors had shown their ID to the security person at the door to the facility, however, it would have been possible to raise their concerns with that person outside the facility. The procedures in the Manual for gathering evidence and dealing with the two persons on the premises who were thought to be intoxicated were not followed.

"In the result, the public safety issue of leaving apparently intoxicated persons inside the facility was not addressed."

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