SIA Licence questions

[chris_abrahams]

Hi,

I have a couple of questions relating to applying for an SIA licence, which I would be very grateful if someone could help me with please.

I tried calling the SIA themselves but after being on hold for close to an hour they cut me off, and it's incredibly frustrating trying to get through to them.

Does anyone know if there's a time limit on applying for a licence after you have attended a course? Does the application have to be straight after, or can it be deferred for a few months after the course has been attended?

Also, I would like a licence that allows me to perform security and patrol guarding. Would that mean I have to take that course in order to apply for the relevant licence, or would a door supervision course also be ok in order to get such a licence that allows me to do security patrolling? I ask as there doesn't seem to be any security guarding courses that close to me, only door supervison ones.

Thanks for any help you can offer, everything is appreciated very much.

Chris

[charlie taters]

I don't know for def with the first question about duration between training and licence application but i would hazard a guess that the training cert is valid indefinately. My reason for thinking this is the licence is valid for 3 years so your cert must last that long, when you renew they just check again that you have the qualification. So it doesnt appear to run out.

With regard to SG v DS licences, theres quite a lot of info on the SIA website. They decided in their wisdom that a licenced Ds could legally conduct manned guarding duties without the SG badge, but the same doesn't apply for SG working on licenced premises. By definiation anywhere with a premises licence and the sale of alcohol by retail would require a Ds badge.

Due to the fact a Ds can do both jobs most people get a Ds badge in the first place so they don't limit there ability to be placed by their employer. Hope this helps

[chris_abrahams]

Hi Charlie,

Thank you very much for your reply, it has helped a lot. It's certainly cleard up the Ds and Sg question, and what you say about the validity of the course makes much sense.

Many thanks again.

Chris

[lincsdoorman]

I did my DS course , left it a year before applying for my badge though due to other work commitments. If i were you id definately do the DS course as you can get a lot more work doing events/festivals etc and the pay is better. I would also ring the sia head office number if you cant get through to their callcentre. Please note that they cant answer your questions regarding individual applications in their system.
0207 025 4100 is the london number.