Hands up if you've been waiting more than six months for a renewal

[fortune]

I have started this thread as a result of the lenghth of time that I and others have been waiting for certs to be issued and what can be done about it. Another problem that I and others are encountering is the inability to be able to talk to either the department or the feo. You can't get through to the department because the departments mailbox is full so you can't get through and the feo's mobile has a message that states, that he isn't able to take the call but if the call is about the length of time that certs are taking to process or where the new cert is, then ring the office number which is the one with the full up mailbox. No one knows anything and you just get recycled round the loop again. Yesterday I heard of an application that had been in for 8 months followed by 4 months on s7. He went and got on to them about it and was told that if he couldn't wait his turn in the queue maybe he wasn't suitable to be issued at all. I've been waiting months and months now and it could be really inconvenient if I didn't have stocks available. The time has come to start to get on their case about it. It a very frustrating situation.

[subsonicnat]

He should have asked for her name,and by what authority she was allowed to make such a statement..

Could she please put that in writing,(if she has the time)..

As not only will a copy be sent to her superiors,but the Chief Constable and his MP..

No Doubt her backside would have started to get a little warm by this time..

We Do Not by Law have to bend over to shafted, We can Fight back on our own..

They are testing how far you will bend, I for one Won't...

[fortune]

What I can't understand is that there is a serious problem in a lot of departments and a lot of tentions being caused, so why isn't something being done about it? The department closed down at four this afternoon as did the feo. They along with the feo don't work over the weekend. I would have thought that the best time for the feo to work would be evenings and weekends when people are at home. But I think that the holdup is in the office rather than the home visit side. Shambles.

[malkiserow]

After almost 8 months I've got mine back

[bluesj]

I don't know about Kent but Sussex have been on the ball with any dealings I've had with them

[rjimmer]

I get the impression that the whole police service is dissatisfied with the appointments of political people to tell them how to do their jobs and are doing everything by the book when they have time.

[LewisR10]

While not particularly recent (2 years ago), my last SGC took 9 months to be issued. I hear the situation hasn't improved at all. The main problem here (Lincolnshire) is that the licensing department is run by G4S... speaks volumes eh?

[fortune]

I think that the problem lies in the office side of things rather than the fieldwork side. It is like trying to swim in marshmallow. I spoke to the reception and they said that the office phone number was blocked because the mailbox is full up. I rang the feo and his Mobile rings and he has a message that says that he can't take a call but if the call is about how long an application is taking or where the cert is if he has been out to visit then to call the office and talk to the admin staff about it. The number that he gives is the one that is blocked. The woman on reception said that as soon as the box is emptied it fills up again. The situation needs more money and resources put into it. They are all civilian staff so it all comes down to money. Or they would be working longer hours and weekends. They all knocked off at four this afternoon. Total shambles. I asked about the complaints procedure and spoke to a woman who didn't really know anything either. I could see this taking up a load of time so I decided to regroup my thoughts and leave it until Monday morning when I can have another go at it. I will be back!

[Savhmr]

The simple truth is that the Criminal Justice Department which employs firearms licencing teams are having the screws tightened on budgets to the extent that most, if not all, Police Authorities are under-staffed and under-funded. This means that with increasing applications (they are reputedly on the rise) and fewer staff dealing, waiting times are only set to increase.

 

The second issue seems to be one of training. There seems to be an issue with succession planning for really knowledgeable and experienced FEO staff (or at least a lot of inconsistency in overall team standards across the country) which some forces simply don't seem to be getting to grips with for whatever reason.

 

Chuck into that melting pot the fluid nature of legislative changes (ie the new EU proposals and any future implementation for one) then it's no wonder many forces have such long waiting times and you do have to feel for the FEO staff involved as they have crippling workloads in many cases.

 

Politically, one interesting question might be "is the government at all motivated to improve the status quo by increased funding?" and the conspiracy theorists amongst you may well think "no".

 

Personally speaking, whilst I've suffered from long variation waits (especially it seems for having the desired conditions enacted), it has helped my case enormously by being as proactive as possible, polite and regularly engaging with the team to see if there's anything that I can do to help speed things up.

 

In most cases, if you can make the lives of your FEO team easier by providing as much of the required evidences they need, it can help speed things up too. (ie without having to be chased).

 

However, that all said, receiving no responses, or rude responses to valid and reasonable questions are certainly grounds for complaints to be rigorously followed up. I wouldn't count on many local MPs to help. The point made by one previous poster about forces being less than happy with some political appointments (crime commissioners) could be used to advantage in such circumstances .

Edited January 16, 2016 by Savhmr

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Time to write to your Chief Constable!

[ehb102]

If you get desperate you can move to Cambridgeshire, get a certificate and then move back before most forces have got off their *****. Love our Firearms team.

[oxfordfowler]

Well as things stand I have been waiting for my SGC renewal for 5 months (so hand not up yet). Application received by TVP 21/08/15 cert expires 20/01/2016.

 

I contacted the Firearms Dept in mid December which resulted in the issue of a temp cert covering the next 6 months. Annoyingly the covering letter from TVP stated that the delay was due to my application being received not in good time.

 

 

Once the season ends I intend to write to my MP regarding the poor service being provided - however I suspect DC is far too busy to take this issue up.

[samboy]

Co/term renewal took 44 days with the Met.

[fortune]

Co/term renewal took 44 days with the Met.

Blimey. The Sweeney's doin 90 cos they got nowhere to go they got a gang of shooters in a shed up at Heathrow their handing out the FAC's as fast as they can go. And its cool for cats.

Don't mention cats or the war, Fawlty.

[fse10]

Well as things stand I have been waiting for my SGC renewal for 5 months (so hand not up yet). Application received by TVP 21/08/15 cert expires 20/01/2016.

 

I contacted the Firearms Dept in mid December which resulted in the issue of a temp cert covering the next 6 months. Annoyingly the covering letter from TVP stated that the delay was due to my application being received not in good time.

 

 

Once the season ends I intend to write to my MP regarding the poor service being provided - however I suspect DC is far too busy to take this issue up.

Odd that as they say they will not issue a temp cert if it's your fault that your renewal is late in & as you put it in five months before it expires cant see why they would say not in good time they don't know their **** from their elbow very bad service.

[Jega]

I had a similar problem with my last renewal ,endless waiting ,with no or very poor communication .

Finally i decided enough was enough so i contacted the police crime commisioner along with my M.P. as well as the county chief constable .

Bingo within a week all sorted .

[Dougy]

They received mine on the 12th Oct and I received it 14 Jan last Thursday which also included a variation. It actually ran out on the 7th Nov so nothing to whinge about from me. I have used my rifles while waiting, with no section 7 tem cert,, and not had any issues with anyone, although if I had of taken advice from the PW Legal team I should have been locked up and all my Firearms cut up into little bits.

 

I did ring them and ask them very politely (cant see the reason for having a go at them) if I could get it back for the shooting show, no particular reason it was just that I may need to buy something when I go..

Happy with the outcome

Edited January 16, 2016 by Dougy

[geordieh]

They received mine on the 12th Oct and I received it 14 Jan last Thursday which also included a variation. It actually ran out on the 7th Nov so nothing to whinge about from me. I have used my rifles while waiting, with no section 7 tem cert,, and not had any issues with anyone, although if I had of taken advice from the PW Legal team I should have been locked up and all my Firearms cut up into little bits.

 

I did ring them and ask them very politely (cant see the reason for having a go at them) if I could get it back for the shooting show, no particular reason it was just that I may need to buy something when I go..

Happy with the outcome

So you got away with committing an illegal act. well done,hope you are proud of yourself.Bit like going into a supermarket seeing the queues are a bit long and saying stuff it I will not bother waiting I will just grab the shopping and leave without paying.A crime is a crime

Edited January 16, 2016 by geordieh

[fortune]

Are the police and the department proud of their selves? Are the police committing (including the chief constable) an illegal act by not issuing firearms and shotgun certificates on time to comply with the law and not issuing s7's for many months after the expiry date? illegal act or not I have been told that, >> your in the system so carry on as normal. If you get pulled over tell the officer that the app is in the department system. If it is the fault of the department that you have not been issued it is their problem. I handed my completed application in two months before the due date and I'm still waiting 6 months later and I cant even get through to talk to anyone about it.

what are the orgs doing about this? Not a lot. they have no influence at all.

[Dougy]

Like I said.

 

 

 

Nothing like shopping at the supermarket, well not the ones I use anyway.

 

I actually rang and spoke to the Firearms department, before committing the said offence.

It was quite a civil conversation, no demanding that I should have my ticket back on such a date, not throwing my toys out of the pram at all. During the conversation (obviously names were exchanged and noted for future ref), and part of which they had my sympathies regarding the extra work load they now have, and less staff to cope,(much like my place of work) and by the way nothing they can do about it Its out of there control.

So I didn't consider myself to be breaking the law, although I may have bent it a little and been advised to by those that were in a better position to do so than most on here.

Does it make me proud ?

Proud of what ?

 

Maybe I am proud, Proud of trying to be an understanding polite kind of person that seems to get what they want out of life without being a bolshie foot stamping bloke that spits there dummy out the pram when they don't get what they want when they want.

 

Some people should try the Carrot method and not the big stick.

[old'un]

I shoot a few rabbits and the odd fox with a .22lr, my main shooting is with a shotgun, I was under West Midlands Police and never had any problems renewing FAC or SGC, now I understand Westmids and Staffs have combined under one roof at Stafford.

My tickets are not due for a bit but when the time comes surely all you need to do is send your ticket off well before the 8 weeks temporary ticket dead line (BASC recommend at least 3 months) this will cover you for using your guns until your ticket arrives, the only problem I can see for renewal is the purchase of ammo for your rifle after it expires, it might be worse if you are someone who is waiting for their first ticket because renewals are taking priority over new issues.

Or am I missing something apart from the time its taking to get certificates?

[fortune]

I shoot a few rabbits and the odd fox with a .22lr, my main shooting is with a shotgun, I was under West Midlands Police and never had any problems renewing FAC or SGC, now I understand Westmids and Staffs have combined under one roof at Stafford.

My tickets are not due for a bit but when the time comes surely all you need to do is send your ticket off well before the 8 weeks temporary ticket dead line (BASC recommend at least 3 months) this will cover you for using your guns until your ticket arrives, the only problem I can see for renewal is the purchase of ammo for your rifle after it expires, it might be worse if you are someone who is waiting for their first ticket because renewals are taking priority over new issues.

Or am I missing something apart from the time its taking to get certificates?

This is not about getting the issue of a new cert, it is about the fact that you might not get issued a renewal for many months after your cert runs out. I put my application in fully completed with letters of permission and club membership two months prior to cert expiry. No changes from the existing cert. So in theory the renewal should be pretty straightforward. Many months later I'm still waiting. The phone mailbox for the department is always full so you can't talk to them and the feos mobile gives out a message to call the department. No one knows anything and you just get bounced back round the loop. I'm OK because I've got plenty of stocks. If you're department has changed then you'd better start now even if you've got more than a year to go. As for basc recommending that you get the application in 3 months in advance. They would be serving shooters interests better by getting on the case of the firearms departments and getting them to issue new certs on or before the expiry date. When has anyone heard of any of the orgs publishing the fact that today we got x amount of certs issued by x force due to our intervention on behalf of our members? They have no more sway with the departments than any individual applicant and that amounts to zero. Save your membership fee, buy insurance cover separately from a company like ccc3 and spend the remainder in your local gunshop or clay ground. This will benefit shooting directly. At present S7's aren't being issued until many months after the expiry date 6 months in my case. A club that I know of waited 8months for the clubs cert to be renewed and that was after the expiry date. Again the application was put in well in advance. Edited January 16, 2016 by fortune

[Geo]

I had to wait 49 weeks for grant of my first SGC ( Essex !) .

 

Initially I was told it would take 28 weeks, after week 45 had passed I contacted the Countryside Alliance for advice , they told me to contact my Police and Crime Commissioner and gave me some words to use in my complaint, which I did.

 

Within a week I had an apology from the Chief superintendent of Police spelling out the reasons for delay ( too numerous to mention ) and 2 weeks after that I had my visit and my SGC dropped through the letterbox a few days later.

 

Coincidence ? Maybe , the Police were keen to point out that my complaint hadn't accelerated the process in any way.

[daz2202]

I'm in Kent.

My sgc and fac expired april 2015. I sent all my forms back on 18th Feb 2015.

It landed November 2015. So 9 months start to finish.

 

I wasn't too fussed until I ran out of both 17 and 22 hornet rounds.

[fortune]

Did you get on to them about it or did you just wait it out? They were taking some calls but now they're not and they are buried because now they are having to send out S7's which is taking as much time as an issue. there is no communication at all now. still no doubt they will get here at some time. I'm OK, I wont run out but it is frustrating and for those that are stuffed it is wrong to be in this situation. I bet it is hell in some of these departments that are under heavy pressure.