Renewal delays

Jezza308

Well-Known Member
Hello, Does anyone have any first hand experience of recent renewal delays from Staffordshire Police? Staffs now deal with renewals for the West Midlands as well. I have a renewal of my coterminous certificate in at the moment, certificate end date is January 2016. The letter that came with the forms stated they were experiencing "a very heavy workload and there may be a delay". If anyone has recent experience of a delay please post a reply. Then I will know if to apply for the special form to be legally covered. :confused: Cheers
 
Hi I have been experiencing problem with GMP, however my FAC / SGC are due by end November. I applied last week for a section 7 and I received a section 7 cert within 4 days. I was advised by BASC to wait 7 days before my original certs ran out.

When I was at the midland game fair the firearms officer was very helpful with information I was asking, reference 1.4.1 variations and renewals.

Hope all goes well.
 
Hello, Does anyone have any first hand experience of recent renewal delays from Staffordshire Police? Staffs now deal with renewals for the West Midlands as well. I have a renewal of my coterminous certificate in at the moment, certificate end date is January 2016. The letter that came with the forms stated they were experiencing "a very heavy workload and there may be a delay". If anyone has recent experience of a delay please post a reply. Then I will know if to apply for the special form to be legally covered. :confused: Cheers


I have no experience of your Force, but would suggest in all cases to write by Recorded delivery to your Force some 14 days before your certificate runs out, and request a Temporary License under Section 7. This will make somebody in that office to find your -still unopened- file, and move it to the top of the pile.
A polite request, good manners and communication generally works.
 
Hi Taff, I would be VERY interested to hear their reply, when you get one, as I am sure others would be too. If I have to go the section 7 route I will certainly use Recorded delivery and request info on the legality of having and using expanding ammo in my polite letter. Cheers ;)
 
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Just received a reply from Hants,
Good morning Mr Mckay

In reply to the below enquiry you are unable to hold expanding ammunition on a section 7 permit.

Kind regards


12784 Pauline Snook
Firearms Administration Officer
Email: pauline.snook@hampshire.pnn.police.uk
Operational Headquarters
Mottisfont Court, Tower Street,
Winchester, Hampshire
SO23 8ND
 
Hi Taff This is a bit of a bummer! So we could all be breaking the firearms legislation when our licence is delayed usually through no fault of our own! This is a total can of worms! I wonder if BASC have any advice, I am not a member but I can enquire from BDS and will do so now! Cheers :eek:
 
I am awaiting a reply regarding this from Hants police to see if this is actually true

It's true because it's the law, not because Hants Police have finally said so. Police FEOs are often wrong, which is no defence if you take their advice.
 
but would suggest in all cases to write by Recorded delivery to your Force some 14 days before your certificate runs out, and request a Temporary License under Section 7. This will make somebody in that office to find your -still unopened- file, and move it to the top of the pile.
A polite request, good manners and communication generally works.

Worked well for me but by email, reply from head of firearms, section 7 issued with no problem and priority raised.
New certificate delivered in 2 weeks after a fair appraisal process. Don't forget under section 7 you can not possess expanding ammunition, mine was lodged with my RFD.
They declined to cover cost of this but was ok as he didn't charge.

Section 7 permit had no entries under ammunition.
 
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Just received this from the BDS regarding Section 7 Permits and holding expanding ammo. "You are correct in summing up your situation. Many licensing departments are struggling to cope with heavy workloads and insufficient staff. If your FAC can’t be returned in time there is not a great deal you can do about it other than to speak nicely to them particularly if you have a genuine need to use your rifle.
I’m not sure mentioning that you are supposedly paying a recent increase in fees to help toward a better service will have any impact but you could try. One thing for sure is to always be polite and courteous to them and accept they are doing their best.
I’m sorry that I can’t offer better advise but we are very much in their hands."
So I will wait and see what the inspecting Officer says if I get a visit.
Thanks for raising this point. If they stick to the letter of the law it means we would have to lodge our ammo with a friend using the same calibre or with a dealer.
It's a 'wait and see' situation. Cheers :confused:
 
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