If you have been in the security industry for a long time, you will have seen the upheaval caused by the arrival of the SIA after the Private Security Industry Act 2001.

The PSIA2001 was brought in to law, in essence, to deal with issues within the door supervision sector of the industry, and the perceived threat to the public that some unregulated “bouncers” and their criminal behaviour, represented.

So, the Private Security Industry Act 2001 was written in to law and the industry regulator, the “Security Industry Authority” was formed. Largely due to some very justified public concerns about press reports of certain bouncers activities including dealing drugs, violence, extortion and involvement in organised crime. As public protection was the underlying motivation for the new law, it was drafted with some huge emissions and flaws, which we are all still waiting to be rectified over 20 years later.

But was it all bad back then?

I’m going to roll the clock back to 1998, pre the PSIA2001, when I worked in the West End of London, at several clubs and licensed venues, and give an honest view of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly side of what we all now know as the Door Supervision sector.

The Good.

Getting highly paid work was very much a matter or reputation and recommendation. The top door supervisors knew and sometimes worked together. If you were reliable, smart, and knew how to handle yourself (not very PC now of course), you’d have a far better chance of getting the well paid jobs when they came up. It was all about who you knew.

This led to very high quality teams working the high paying venues. The better you were, the more money you could command. I earnt £12ph on doors in Chelsea, Kensington & Knightsbridge in 1996 – 1998 (Probably £20+ph today.)

Any incident could be dealt with, fast, robustly, effectively and with minimum disruption to the punters or business, or the need to involve the police.

There was respect for the door staff. The vast majority were big, clearly able to deal with any potential violent incident, and exuded a distinct air of FAFO.

When inevitably it did kick off, there was a simple code for door staff. Watch your colleague’s back. Never back down. Never run. This engendered a real sense of camaraderie much like the police or military, knowing that when things got noisy, your colleagues would always be there to support, assist and defend you.

I knew and worked with many excellent professional door supervisors during this time so please do not think that all door supervisors were in any way dodgy. But some…

The Bad.

I worked with a lot of “gym bunnies” and martial arts experts, and none of them were slow to get involved when it “kicked off”. The physical ability of these, generally guys, did tend to mean that they went straight to a physical solution, when some time and deescalating words, would have done the trick.

There was also a culture of sending a message, or teaching a lesson, hence “reasonable force” when removing a troublemaker back then, would be viewed as far less “reasonable” today. 

On the whole, rightly or wrongly, respect was earned physically.

The Ugly.

It was not unheard of for the door team to be involved in all manner of criminal activities. Access to so many members of the public, many of them somewhat inebriated, presented numerous money making opportunities.

Some of the most notorious were drug dealing. Often selling on drugs confiscated from punters, or having their own suppliers, the opportunity to make a bundle was obvious. Possibly the most infamous were the “Essex Boys” a team of bouncers working in the Basildon area in the 1990’s who became hugely involved in drug importation and all manner of nastiness. I think those that weren’t murdered, are still in prison.

Many doormen (that was ok to say back then too….) took kickbacks from the club reception staff to turn a blind eye to them dipping from the till, to let people in, or took back-handers to allow in those that were already  drunk, or when the venue was full.

Some of these door staff had a string of convictions, and were involved in various levels of organised crime.

It was not unheard of for bouncers to intimidate the club / pub management extorting money from them, or using licensed premises to run their criminal enterprises.

In 1996 I worked for a security company that would be parachuted into these problem clubs after requests for help from the owners. We would “pay off” the problematic door team, deal with or prevent threats of reprisals, then clean up the premises, getting rid of any “licensed” drug dealers and problematic punters who paid kick backs to the previous bent door team to turn a blind eye to their behaviour. I had a gun pointed at me more than once. Very exciting times.

Then a New Sheriff Arrived.

In rides the Security Industry Authority, the new industry regulator, on a white horse made of promises and commitments.

Immediately, the door supervisors with criminal records, were removed from the industry. A big win, and probably the number one objective of the PSIA2001.

The SIA also publicly announced that, due to the difficult training, and licencing requirements, there would be a shortage of licensed security officers, driving up salaries! (Several times. In writing. They were convinced!)

Happy days we all thought.

Sadly this is where things go very wrong.

Venues now had been led to believe that all licensed door supervisors must be excellent, as with such tough training and testing, the SIA licence was a badge of quality!

Word of mouth and recommendations became far less important, as employers could see official licensed security professionals now applying for their vacancies.

Then the world and their dog discovered that the whole licensing process was so simple and easy to achieve that a massive influx of frankly awful labour, flooded the market, all waving their lovely new SIA badges at employers and driving salaries through the floor. A situation that hasn’t changed for 20 years and leaves the UK security industry as probably the most scandalously underpaid sector in Britain. But I’m not bitter.

Back to Today.

We are where we are. Many people have a lot of good ideas to help make things better. We all just hope that the SIA doesn’t keep turning to the usual “industry stakeholders” for solutions. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas.