Paid and no service

[Ash_Raine]

Hi all, I’ve just been speaking to a local gun shop owner today and it never dawned on me until he mentioned this, how many people are waiting for new shotgun/renew certs after having paid for the service from the local police department? 
 

i applied in December and still not heard anything back! There’s no other service would this situation would be acceptable. If I paid for something in December I wouldn’t put up with not receiving any service nearly 6 month afterwards. 
 

let me know your thoughts. 
 

Cheers Ash

 

[Charliedog]

Suffolk got mine back in a week and had a personal response within 10 mins of submitting it, not too shabby

 

[Jonny English]

I got my renewal from Lincs police mid first lockdown in 6 weeks, including waiting for gp report. To be fair to Lincs police if ypu send payment in and they can't process your request in a timely manner they return your money and ring and tell you when to resubmit the money. 

 

[ChrisOR]

I applied with GMP in October, heard nothing but generic replies to emails “we’re busy due to Covid, thanks for your patience”.

I contacted the few yesterday and received a more personal reply, “we’ve only just started on January 2020 applications, you’re looking at a considerable wait yet”.

Have asked BASC for advice, as their website offers, heard nothing in over a month from them (that’s a subscription that won’t be getting renewed). So, like many others, I’m stuck staring down the barrels of a further 9 months minimum wait.

A potential 17 month turnaround, despite Covid, is utterly unacceptable, but what can you do.

 

[Ash_Raine]

Suffolk got mine back in a week and had a personal response within 10 mins of submitting it, not too shabby

That’s brilliant 

I got my renewal from Lincs police mid first lockdown in 6 weeks, including waiting for gp report. To be fair to Lincs police if ypu send payment in and they can't process your request in a timely manner they return your money and ring and tell you when to resubmit the money. 

That’s a brilliant turnaround, but m in Durham so our police force is one of, if not the worst. 

I applied with GMP in October, heard nothing but generic replies to emails “we’re busy due to Covid, thanks for your patience”.

I contacted the few yesterday and received a more personal reply, “we’ve only just started on January 2020 applications, you’re looking at a considerable wait yet”.

Have asked BASC for advice, as their website offers, heard nothing in over a month from them (that’s a subscription that won’t be getting renewed). So, like many others, I’m stuck staring down the barrels of a further 9 months minimum wait.

A potential 17 month turnaround, despite Covid, is utterly unacceptable, but what can you do.

Well from what I we were talking about last night, we all need to send in emails/letters and just try and push them on as much as we can. 
 

The wait really isn’t acceptable and it wouldn’t be if it was any other supplier of services. I think people get too worried about upsetting the police but that shouldn’t be the way. 
 

Im going to email BASC today and ask for some assistance if they cannot help me with that then like you say, the subscription won’t be getting renewed. 

 

[wynno]

I had my renewal letter from SWP in early January, after getting the medical report the form and payment was submitted by email two weeks later.

I finally received my renewal one day before it was due to expire. You have to keep badgering them to process your application, and tell them that if you are unable to keep your guns at home then you will lodge them with a RFD and pass the costs onto them.

 

[Westward]

You're lucky if Durham is doing any new applications at all. Here in Glos and most other regions they're only doing renewals and FAC variations. They finally managed my renewal 3 weeks after the old one had expired and 4 weeks since the FEO phone call. (No home visits in Glos)

 

[JP.]

In order to expedite SGC applications and renewals by increasing staff numbers etc, would people be happy to pay an increased cost as compared to the annual membership of BASC and/or the CPSA, the five yearly SGC fees seem minimal and that is what allows us to legally possess the very things we need to partake in shooting.  Whilst it isn’t great you can understand that other matters take priority. 

 

[Ash_Raine]

You're lucky if Durham is doing any new applications at all. Here in Glos and most other regions they're only doing renewals and FAC variations. They finally managed my renewal 3 weeks after the old one had expired and 4 weeks since the FEO phone call. (No home visits in Glos)

I think they are processing them just very very slowly which is really frustrating. 

In order to expedite SGC applications and renewals by increasing staff numbers etc, would people be happy to pay an increased cost, as compared to the annual membership of BASC and/or the CPSA, the five yearly SGC fees seem minimal and that is what allows us to legally posses the very things we need to partake in shooting.  Whilst it isn’t great you can understand that other matters take priority. 

Tbh I would pay a little extra knowing that the service we would get would be first class. You’re right the processing fee is minimal compared to how other services are priced in today’s climate. 
 

 

[Ash_Raine]

I had my renewal letter from SWP in early January, after getting the medical report the form and payment was submitted by email two weeks later.

I finally received my renewal one day before it was due to expire. You have to keep badgering them to process your application, and tell them that if you are unable to keep your guns at home then you will lodge them with a RFD and pass the costs onto them.

I do keep sending emails but this application is my first one so I have no bargaining with having guns at my house. 
 

I know it’s sounds bad but I’m just starting to get a little fed up now. 

 

[Salopian]

What is the waiting time for notification of a speeding offence?

 

[MartynB]

14 days if it’s a camera offence . 6 months if you are being reported for summons to a court . 

 

[Ash_Raine]

What is the waiting time for notification of a speeding offence?

Good shout 

14 days if it’s a camera offence . 6 months if you are being reported for summons to a court . 

Crazy when you put it that way

 

[El Spavo]

To be fair to the fuzz, since Theresa May knackered them with all the cuts, they're stretched like a slapper's mary, so bearing in mind unless this is in a professional basis, this is likely to be a jolly for most of the applicants, I'd have thought the business of catching criminals and the like do and quite rightly should be taking up the majority of their time.

As above though, if it's been paid for and not arrived in a reasonably timely fashion, then they would do well to be returning payments and asking for them nearer the time of actual application approval.

 

[Westward]

In order to expedite SGC applications and renewals by increasing staff numbers etc, would people be happy to pay an increased cost as compared to the annual membership of BASC and/or the CPSA, the five yearly SGC fees seem minimal and that is what allows us to legally possess the very things we need to partake in shooting.  Whilst it isn’t great you can understand that other matters take priority. 

Well that's one point of view, but keep in mind that the police have added in, or insisted the home office adds in, a raft of extra tests and checks including mental and physical fitness. All in the name of their latest mantra of "Protecting the Public". In so doing they have created a lot more work for themselves, none of which was asked for by the public or gun owners and none of which included consultations with the public, with shooters or any shooting organisations.

Issuing gun licences is simply a series of administrative tasks which IMO doesn't need any involvement from the police. They do it, albeit painfully slowly, because they insist on doing it.

 

[FESkent]

I applied with GMP in October, heard nothing but generic replies to emails “we’re busy due to Covid, thanks for your patience”.

I contacted the few yesterday and received a more personal reply, “we’ve only just started on January 2020 applications, you’re looking at a considerable wait yet”.

Have asked BASC for advice, as their website offers, heard nothing in over a month from them (that’s a subscription that won’t be getting renewed). So, like many others, I’m stuck staring down the barrels of a further 9 months minimum wait.

A potential 17 month turnaround, despite Covid, is utterly unacceptable, but what can you do.

You could write to the Crime Commissioner asking if this is acceptable given other police services have not stopped during the pandemic and copy the letter to your MP.

 

[Ash_Raine]

To be fair to the fuzz, since Theresa May knackered them with all the cuts, they're stretched like a slapper's mary, so bearing in mind unless this is in a professional basis, this is likely to be a jolly for most of the applicants, I'd have thought the business of catching criminals and the like do and quite rightly should be taking up the majority of their time.

As above though, if it's been paid for and not arrived in a reasonably timely fashion, then they would do well to be returning payments and asking for them nearer the time of actual application approval.

I get they maybe stretched but why is the delay in processing a piece of paperwork been affected soo much that they’ve gone to possible year waiting lists? Surely it can’t be that hard/time consuming to process an application. 
 

 

[Westward]

To be fair to the fuzz, since Theresa May knackered them with all the cuts, they're stretched like a slapper's mary, so bearing in mind unless this is in a professional basis, this is likely to be a jolly for most of the applicants, I'd have thought the business of catching criminals and the like do and quite rightly should be taking up the majority of their time.

It's nothing to do with party politics, never has been. They've been tardy with licences for over 20 years to my certain knowledge. These conversations come up frequently around the forums; it's just become a bit worse over the last 15 months.

As said before, I don't buy the we're stretched propaganda, I'm not sure they even put catching criminals very high up, but I'd bet the farm so to speak, that they consider gun licencing bottom of their priorities. My FEO for example had been working from home for a year and judging by the 45 minutes he spent on the phone to me yakking pleasantly about a zillion things other than the business in hand, I'd say it would be fair to assume he wasn't overly pressurised. And it still took them another 4 weeks to print off and post the SGC!

 

[Richard59]

As other mentioned Gloucestershire Police are at present not accepting applications for NEW certificates only renewals, other forces may also be taking this line, one reason being the need for a home visit. With something as sensitive as gun ownership all forces will be taking the utmost of scrutiny in each and every application, this will undoubtedly be a much longer process with new rather than renewal applications. As for cost there was a lot of noise a couple of years ago when a force wanted and used various media outlets to have the fee increased to near £200, it was lobbying actions by BASC CPSA & the like that saw the Govt of the day saw fit to keep as.