What is fair timescale for renewal of fac?

biffo

Well-Known Member
My fac renewal has not arrived and consequently my fac has expired. I,am planning to,call to request a section 7 temporary certificate.

due to issues with availability of one of my referees, who is also nominated landowner, I had some delay in sending things in. Eventually went 3 weeks before renewal date.

my question is, is this a fair enough timescale to process the certificate?
 
Im still waiting after 5 months.......
Three weeks is probably too short though
Some forces publish service guidlines
Apply for a section 7 ASAP
be very careful
as you are not currently licensed
consider to have them stored at RFD
at RFD
 
I used to get mine through in days. Fantastic dept. But things change and now I have been waiting 8 weeks and haven't even heard from them. Oh, sure, they've cashed my cheque.

Chris
 
Called today, very helpful, explained that certificate would not be sorted until after new year.said not to worry as a few people were in same boat. I pressed for section7 and they happily agreed to send this week.
 
My cert runs out at the end of the month. I put my renewal in 8 weeks early as advised by the FAO. Had a visit today and informed that it should be with my just after christmas. Leicester are very very good.
 
hi there,
i renewed mine earlyer this year, i sent all the forms in about 6 weeks before it ran out, i took 9 months for them to complete my renewal, they didnt issue a temp cert either. i contacted them on many times, most times i couldnt get though or i had to leave a voice mail. they just told me there very sorry and there under staffed.
I found it hard to be anoyed with the firearms staff, because the times i did get to speak with them they were always very kind and hepful.
 
hi there,
i renewed mine earlyer this year, i sent all the forms in about 6 weeks before it ran out, i took 9 months for them to complete my renewal, they didnt issue a temp cert either. i contacted them on many times, most times i couldnt get though or i had to leave a voice mail. they just told me there very sorry and there under staffed.
I found it hard to be anoyed with the firearms staff, because the times i did get to speak with them they were always very kind and hepful.
That is clearly unacceptable service. You could have written to chief constable and complained and insisted on temp certificate.
 
Im still waiting after 5 months.......
Three weeks is probably too short though
Some forces publish service guidlines
Apply for a section 7 ASAP
be very careful
as you are not currently licensed
consider to have them stored at RFD
at RFD
Don,t store them with a RFD, you are licensed as you are in for renewal, speak to your license dept, and ask them to record the call far to much scare mongering on this site, when you move house and send your license off, technically you do not have authority to drive, but you do, and you don,t lock the car away until it arrives
 
In law there is what is known as a "timley response".

I have won a case based soley on the fact that the other party did not act in a timley mannor to my request. It took them 8 weeks to respond and the Judge stated that 2 weeks was timley and 8 weeks was not.

Not sure how this would stand with regards to a police force sorting their paperwork, but if you have applied in the recommended time scale then I would suggest that any come back would fall at the feet of the department in question.
 
It's not scaremongering. If it has expired it does not matter that your FAC/SGC is in for renewal. You are not legally in possession of those firearms. There is no comparison to your driving licence. At no point, technically or otherwise, is your entitlement to drive removed while changing address. The address on your driving licence doesn't even have to be where you live. Amazed that you will accuse others of scaremongering over an issue which carries severe sentencing yet give out erroneous information which is, well, scaremongering.
 
Sure, if our license has expired then we are not legally in possesion of our firearms. However, if the process relies on the timley response from a police authority then how can we be held fully responsible.

I would argue that we cannot and that if the application has been made within the recommended time scale then it is the force in question who is to blame. Other then driving to the police station and processing our own FAC, WTF are we supposed to do?!?
 
It's not scaremongering. If it has expired it does not matter that your FAC/SGC is in for renewal. You are not legally in possession of those firearms. There is no comparison to your driving licence. At no point, technically or otherwise, is your entitlement to drive removed while changing address. The address on your driving licence doesn't even have to be where you live. Amazed that you will accuse others of scaremongering over an issue which carries severe sentencing yet give out erroneous information which is, well, scaremongering.
So my information is wrong ? Then how come on tv last night emergency something or another, a driver had his car lifted due to the fact he had not informed dvla that he had changed his address, so his license had expired, this did not mean he was disqualified from driving, but that he was not in possession of a license to drive a vehicle, if you are correct then perhaps you could represent him at court as obviously the police were acting illegally.
and yes you are scaremongering.
 
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Of course. How silly of me to argue with a television. :rolleyes: His licence would have expired as he did not submit it to DVLA as requested in a letter sent to the address on his licence. If he moved he may not have got it and subsequently did not respond. If you don't respond - it gets revoked. Yes - your information is wrong.

In response to the more reasonable post - I appreciate it is frustrating but the responsibility is to comply with the legislation. If you don't have a ticket then the firearms they relate to need to be stored lawfully which means you need to find alternative arrangements. It's not great but it is the only way to stay legal. Advice from avid TV watchers doesn't appear to be that reliable.
 
My section 7 arrived the day after I called. Can't complain with that, good service. Kent have always been pretty good at these things over the 25-30years I've dealt with them.
 
Call me ignorant, but why is it they can print you off a section 7 in 24 hours, but to print you off a new section 1 will continue to take weeks and weeks. Surley its not rocket science to look at an applicant, see that he has no issues over the previous 5 years and print him a new ticket?

My section 7 arrived the day after I called. Can't complain with that, good service. Kent have always been pretty good at these things over the 25-30years I've dealt with them.
 
This constant thread illustrates that the processing of renewals etc
is an absolute scandal benefiting neither the hunter nor public safety.
Im not blaming the staff but the crazy lopsided system where renewals take
9 Months!!!
yes there is scaremongering and we are easy targets because we dont want to do
anything wrong.
 
Had a visit this morning from my FEO wrt my renewal. I have not been chasing hard as they told me around 8 weeks. But as Christmas was looming and Arran is booked and paid for, I thought I'd start nudging. I was told at one point that it would be fine, lots of people continue to go stalking whilst their FACs are in for renewal. OK I thought, let me have you home number so that the Police can ring you at 03.00am. I then asked for a Section 7 and was told that they take as long to do as just doing the certificate. Anyway in a slightly begrudging way it was suggested that I contact my FEO directly, although he was very busy.

I did that last night and at 09.30 on the dot, he arrived. Very affable and helpful, went through all the paperwork. Then all my serial numbers. I had laid everything out on the table with tickets on each item, so it took him only a minute or two to go down the whole line. At the end, he produced my already printed FAC and SGC. I had wanted some minor changes since submitting it and in past times I would have agreed those and then had a cert printed. I figured I could work with what I'd got there in front of me and accepted them. Then we started spotting the mistakes. Serial numbers missing, whole conditions missing too - two stalking rifles no longer down for stalking!

So that needs to go back. Ahh well.

Anyway, I got chatting about how busy he was and he told me something that I hadn't appreciated. It all relates back to when certificates were 3 years not 5. When they made changes to the renewal periods and people opted to go coterminous with both tickets, it caused a blip in numbers of renewals ( I can't relate the maths particularly well) and so what he now has is 2 really busy years, followed by three pretty quiet years. The prediction is that it will be about 2020 before this evens out with new tickets and old ones not being renewed across the five year period. Now, if you know when that period is and you want to apply for a new ticket, do it in the quiet three year period and you'll get sorted much faster I think!

Chris
 
Put in for a variation last month and had it back in 4 days.
How much more time do they need for the renewal cannot be to much more can it?
 
Put in for a variation last month and had it back in 4 days.
How much more time do they need for the renewal cannot be to much more can it?
thats nice it will be 3 months on monday and thats for a change of address . i took them in to winchester police hq and put both fac and sgc in the hand of a young lady from the firearm dpt so no chance of saying we have not received them.
 
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