Thames Valley FAC times

[MonkeyKong]

My dad has just submitted his FAC application (he lives in Thames Valley) and said he heard from the chap in his local gun shop that TV are a year or so wait to get a cert.

 

I live in Herts and have had nothing but excellent service that's really impressed me, but after a cursory search on PW it seems TV have had some absurdly long wait times. Is it a particularly busy period or it is something TV are doing to slow the number of certs down?

[Jason_ox]

Staffing levels and flooded offices where records were kept was the excuses I heard. I too have heard and believe the grant is taking over 365 days to complete. Shambles

[trickyh]

TVP have had a number of issues over the past couple of years. One excuse seems to be the cycle of renewals hit a busy patch about a year ago, then they had an air-con leak which got them evicted out of their offices. I think it took me 8 months for an FAC/SGC renewal this year :( Just dont let the application sit dormant like I did, or it will stay at the bottom of the pile.. forever

[Wingman]

9 months renewal for me in bucks TVP force. They are really really slow.

[Stimo22]

Two mates have both had certificate take nearly twelve months to renew, I got fed up with waiting after 10 months so emailed the PCC with a complaint. I then got a email from the firearm dept saying that it was in the post, what arrived was someone else's firearm certificate. I sent this hdirect to the PCC saying that the public would be concerned with gun security if this was the normal situation and got mine within a few days

[MonkeyKong]

Much obliged for all the feedback. Sounds like he'll need to keep on top of them.

 

 

Two mates have both had certificate take nearly twelve months to renew, I got fed up with waiting after 10 months so emailed the PCC with a complaint. I then got a email from the firearm dept saying that it was in the post, what arrived was someone else's firearm certificate. I sent this hdirect to the PCC saying that the public would be concerned with gun security if this was the normal situation and got mine within a few days

 

That is truly farcical.

[Uncle Albert]

Had to wait 12 weeks for my FAC renewal. That's even after a telephone interview. Mind you that's inside their projected 16 week published time scale. I read on one forum that some MP forgot to renew his SGC and has to now wait. He was most irate that he should not get preferential service and was going to take the matter up with the Home Office. Have a read of the post regarding the Bridgwater and West Somerset MP. I bet he gets it through quicker. Maybe they will give force a proverbial boot up the backside but I doubt it somehow.

 

They always come up with the excuse of the five year peak in renewals. If they know about it so far in advance they should get more staff in to cope with it or move to a ten year life. I know I'm talking to the wall as nothing will get done yet the other main party want to increase the cost to £200 but that will not improve the service. We will still be in the same situation, increase cost for a poor service. Fortunately my certificate came back with the renewal date 5 years hence so I have not paid for 5 years and got 4 years 9 months. That would really have ticked me off.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Uncle Albert

[Zetter]

Lad at the local RFD waited nearly 12 months for his grant earlier this year. Personally I waited three months for a variation about two months ago and it was only that quick as I managed to catch up with the FEO who did it over the phone (1st centrefire variation). While I was speaking to the FEO the basic message was lack of FEOs they have drop the numbers by 50% over the past few years.

She said they have put some more admin in the offices to speed things up but all this has done is push the backlog down the line to the FEOs hence not really had an impact.

 

When I applied for my SGC and subsequently my FAC in 2013/ 14 the wait time for a grant was about a month so you can see how down hill its gone!

[MonkeyKong]

Lad at the local RFD waited nearly 12 months for his grant earlier this year. Personally I waited three months for a variation about two months ago and it was only that quick as I managed to catch up with the FEO who did it over the phone (1st centrefire variation). While I was speaking to the FEO the basic message was lack of FEOs they have drop the numbers by 50% over the past few years.

She said they have put some more admin in the offices to speed things up but all this has done is push the backlog down the line to the FEOs hence not really had an impact.

 

When I applied for my SGC and subsequently my FAC in 2013/ 14 the wait time for a grant was about a month so you can see how down hill its gone!

 

That's quite a rate of drop-off!

[Wingman]

God I remember the days not so long ago (about 10) when I used to live near Bisley, would see a rifle I liked in Fultons, submitted a variation and it came through in a week or so.

 

Or if I wanted it quicker, a drive to the police HQ at Mount Brown and do it while you wait.

 

Far removed from these days...

[Scully]

Shooting org's subscriptions worth every penny eh! 🙂

Have been giving mine a bit of earache over this issue but it seems nothing can be done; all down to Police budgets and staffing levels.

Ah well, possibly cc3 for me at next renewal.

[English]

Shooting org's subscriptions worth every penny eh!

Have been giving mine a bit of earache over this issue but it seems nothing can be done; all down to Police budgets and staffing levels.

Ah well, possibly cc3 for me at next renewal.

 

Please educate me? What is CC3?

[Scully]

http://www.ccc3.co.uk/home?exref=V949

[bostonmick]

its all to easy to blame the police but perhaps it might be of more use to badger the government,they are the ones dictating to the authority's how little money they must manage on,take lincs this coming year the county will get around 70 million but next year its cut to 48 million according to a council spokesman on the local radio tonight,its no good ranting at the shooting organisations to keep on at the police maybe the mp's should get the venom.also if you look at the number of members our org's have there are a great many gun owners who are not members of any but probably complain about the service and someone should do something.

[Scully]

its all to easy to blame the police but perhaps it might be of more use to badger the government,they are the ones dictating to the authority's how little money they must manage on,take lincs this coming year the county will get around 70 million but next year its cut to 48 million according to a council spokesman on the local radio tonight,its no good ranting at the shooting organisations to keep on at the police maybe the mp's should get the venom.also if you look at the number of members our org's have there are a great many gun owners who are not members of any but probably complain about the service and someone should do something.

 

I don't expect my shooting organisation to argue points with the police; I can do that for myself.

[bostonmick]

 

I don't expect my shooting organisation to argue points with the police; I can do that for myself.

 

so no waiting in your area then.

[Scully]

 

so no waiting in your area then.

Oh yes, most definitely! Tickets expired mid October; have been in possession of S7's since beginning of October. They expire in May! 🙂

[bostonmick]

Oh yes, most definitely! Tickets expired mid October; have been in possession of S7's since beginning of October. They expire in May!

i have to say that lincs were excellent on my last renewal,i had my new cert eight weeks before the previous one expired.

[English]

http://www.ccc3.co.uk/home?exref=V949

 

Scully, Thanks for the education

 

its all to easy to blame the police but perhaps it might be of more use to badger the government,they are the ones dictating to the authority's how little money they must manage on,take lincs this coming year the county will get around 70 million but next year its cut to 48 million according to a council spokesman on the local radio tonight,its no good ranting at the shooting organisations to keep on at the police maybe the mp's should get the venom.also if you look at the number of members our org's have there are a great many gun owners who are not members of any but probably complain about the service and someone should do something.

 

Mick, whilst I do think such a cut in funding is terrible, I think you have to separate out Licencing - they (the Police) now have the funding which they have demanded and made the case for, amongst the things they do for the public/ I know of people who have waited for renewals in Linc's for nearly a year despite the funding the Police have requested by way of price increases to licence fees. In any event they are now using G4S who take a profit out of the funds they do have - further diminishing the any funding they have from whatever source?

[bostonmick]

 

 

 

 

Mick, whilst I do think such a cut in funding is terrible, I think you have to separate out Licencing - they (the Police) now have the funding which they have demanded and made the case for, amongst the things they do for the public/ I know of people who have waited for renewals in Linc's for nearly a year despite the funding the Police have requested by way of price increases to licence fees. In any event they are now using G4S who take a profit out of the funds they do have - further diminishing the any funding they have from whatever source?

 

i believe the police were actually after a larger increase than was implemented.g4s were given various contracts in which they were promising to save the lincs force millions,this has not been the case.also the new police and crime commissioner in his election patter said one of the first things he would do if elected would be to get rid of them,this also never happened,and this even though after only a few weeks in his position g4s were found to be making bogus calls to push up their figures,this i believe is fraud,yet still they are in the job.cant comment on the long wait times you quote as my shooting friends apart from one have all had very good service,the other one was given a s7 but that was due to the doctor taking an age to send in information about a heart check.

[Scully]

I can't say I have much sympathy for the police and their claims of underfunding and staff shortages. Most authorities seem to struggle to function efficiently yet resist all attempts to relinquish control of licensing.

They're obviously not up to the job. When I asked my FEO what the problem was he shrugged and said 'they just can't cope.'

[kody]

14 months for renewal TVP for a mate of mine beat that

[Royal22lr]

Applied to TVP for SGC August 2016. FEO visit scheduled 2nd week January 2017.

Think it's luck of the draw- FEOs here must spend most of time driving!

Malcolm

[Andy135]

My renewal took 13.5 months from start to finish. Had multiple temporary permit extensions within that time, so much so that the last temp extension they issued would have run until the middle of next year, which would have been almost a year and three quarters after the renewal application. After doing the patient, not-making-a-fuss thing, I finally pointed this out to the firearms head office and I got my license back within a week. Coincidence? I think not.

 

As Scully suggests, it pays to be proactive.

[kory1986]

Took 6 months for me