Prosecutors have abandoned the case against an Aberdeen pub employee accused of breaching Covid regulations by letting customers drink inside.
Tracy Allison previously appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court facing a charge under The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Additional Temporary Measures) (Scotland) Regulations 2020.
The 41-year-old, who worked at the Victoria Bar in Torry at the time, was alleged to have breached the regulations by allowing customers to drink alcohol inside the pub.
It was alleged the incident happened on October 9 2020, the day tighter restrictions were imposed on the industry.
Ms Allison, of Balnagask Road, Aberdeen, had entered a plea of not guilty, but the last time the case was due to be heard at Aberdeen Sheriff Court it was treated as “not called”.
And now, prosecutors have confirmed the charge against Ms Allison has been dropped.
It’s understood Allison no longer works at the bar.
A Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal spokesman said: “Prosecutors have a duty to keep cases under review and after careful consideration of the facts and circumstances, including the available admissible evidence, the Procurator Fiscal decided that there should be no proceedings taken at this time.
“The Crown reserves the right to proceed in the future should further evidence become available.”
Restrictions aimed to ‘reduce opportunities for the virus to spread’
Days before the date of the alleged offence, the Scottish Government had announced new measures would be introduced at 6pm on October 9 2020, meaning hospitality businesses would only be allowed to open their indoors between 6am and 6pm, with no alcohol permitted.
The announcement also stated alcohol sales were permitted outdoors until 10pm.
Announcing the restrictions imposed on October 9 2020, Nicola Sturgeon said: “Without action, we are likely to return to the peak level of infections we had in the spring by the end of this month.
“We must consider the direct harm to health from the virus – which must be reduced – but do that alongside the harm being done to jobs and the economy, which in turn has an impact on people’s health and wellbeing.
“And we have to consider the wider harms to health and wellbeing that the virus – and the restrictions deployed to control it – are having on all of us.
‘Ability to live alongside this virus’
“For all of these reasons, we are applying a far more targeted approach than we did in March – one which reduces opportunities for the virus to spread, while keeping businesses and other activities as open as possible.
“We hope that the restrictions already in place and those I have announced today will stem the increase in new cases. But I can’t stress enough that is fundamentally down to all of us.
“The more we comply with all of the restrictions and advice the more effective they will be.
“It is also important because we want these restrictions to be temporary that we use the next two weeks to prepare, protect and prevent – to further strengthen our resilience and our ability to live alongside this virus.”
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