shotgun certificate renewal

[chris954]

Back in April I recieved my letter from the firearms licencing to say my certificate was up for renewal, nothing unusual I've had my licence for 25 years so didn't expect any problems. filled the form out,photo's taken and countersigned, sent it off within a week of getting it and nothing. called them about 3 weeks ago to ask what was happening as they usually come and visit me to check I'm not a nutter and my security is up to standard.The woman on the other end said not to worry they were working their way through the backlog and would be in touch. My certificate expires on the 26th so last Thursday I called back as no-one has been in touch yet. After an awkward silence from the other end the woman ( not the same one) said they may have to do my renewal over the phone and if its not done in time she would issue a temporary certificate. Just a little worried at their seeming lack of concern over a situation that could see me in breach of the firearms laws and arrested for illegal possession of a firearm through no fault of my own. Has anybody else come across a similar situation?

 

[mho]

When I held shotgun and firearms licence everything used to be done in a few weeks, variations on firearms took a few days, they seem to be slacking.

Cannot comment on current time scales as I haven't held either certificate for a few years now.

 

[mbphoto]

West Yorkshire are pretty slow at sorting stuff I waited almost a year before been granted! I moved house without even a inspection all done over phone I understand what you are saying it's not something you want to mess about with maybe try get something in writing to cover your back? I found them to be slow at processing everything guess there a huge backlog of cases !!!

 

[Cobra]

My last renewal (last year) was sent out almost 3 months before the due date.
I was informed that to stay legal, I should return the forms within 2 weeks as they were "extremely busy"

 

[Garry Edwards]

Well, they really should visit you, but they aren't obliged to. Just make sure that the certificate has been issued before your existing one runs out, otherwise you must remove your guns from your possession (pay a RFD to look after them or lend them to another certificate holder), otherwise it is you who will be in trouble. If they tell you that your certificate will be issued late but you should just keep your guns locked up and not use them until you get the certificate, take no notice because doing so will put you on the wrong side of the law.

 

[digitalfailure]

Took my firearms and shotgun certs almost 3 months to be granted due to backlogs.

 

[mbphoto]

3 month thats fast!!

 

[chris954]

Well, they really should visit you, but they aren't obliged to. Just make sure that the certificate has been issued before your existing one runs out, otherwise you must remove your guns from your possession (pay a RFD to look after them or lend them to another certificate holder), otherwise it is you who will be in trouble. If they tell you that your certificate will be issued late but you should just keep your guns locked up and not use them until you get the certificate, take no notice because doing so will put you on the wrong side of the law.

thats what I was thinking, if nothings happened by 2 weeks today ( runs out 2 weeks tomorrow) I'll take my gun to the local gunshop, at least I'm covered then and perhaps send the bill for storage to the police.

 

[Spiderdudeuk]

What you have to realise is that the licensing departments within the Police have been utterly decimated by the Tory cuts on the Police. Some of the forces are now running with one or two officers doing the inspections. The bigger the force the bigger the backlog.

There is no point blaming the Police for this, they can only work at a certain pace and in order of application.

West Yorkshire used to be rapid, I got mine within 10 weeks including home visit etc etc. But, I know there are very few people left in their office now.

They did run a scheme where you could renew very early even up to a year or two in advance. This was done to avoid backlog and to process the applications during the quite period. As we know, the Spring/Summer months are the busiest by some distance. I suppose it was also an easy ay of getting cash in, as they offer was based on a reduced fee as well.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Byker28i]

Well, they really should visit you, but they aren't obliged to. Just make sure that the certificate has been issued before your existing one runs out, otherwise you must remove your guns from your possession (pay a RFD to look after them or lend them to another certificate holder), otherwise it is you who will be in trouble. If they tell you that your certificate will be issued late but you should just keep your guns locked up and not use them until you get the certificate, take no notice because doing so will put you on the wrong side of the law.

This is very good advice else you'll end up with a caution, which I got when I went to the police station and was chasing and asking advice after mine was out of date by a month. (Previous phone calls advice was to just wait, backlog...) I sold my gun afterwards and gave up clay shooting as I was told I may face difficulty getting it renewed then and I wasn't shooting much, 3-4 times a year.

Now 15 years later I have a request in for a certificate again, waiting patiently...

 

[Garry Edwards]

What you have to realise is that the licensing departments within the Police have been utterly decimated by the Tory cuts on the Police. Some of the forces are now running with one or two officers doing the inspections. The bigger the force the bigger the backlog.

There is no point blaming the Police for this, they can only work at a certain pace and in order of application.

West Yorkshire used to be rapid, I got mine within 10 weeks including home visit etc etc. But, I know there are very few people left in their office now.

They did run a scheme where you could renew very early even up to a year or two in advance. This was done to avoid backlog and to process the applications during the quite period. As we know, the Spring/Summer months are the busiest by some distance. I suppose it was also an easy ay of getting cash in, as they offer was based on a reduced fee as well.

Just my thoughts.

This is true, and most forces really do do their best to help, especially West Yorks.. By contrast, North Yorks have always been slow and far from helpful
For example, when my last FAC renewal was due with W. Yorks it took them 2 1/2 months to do the visit, and the certificate was due to run out 3 days later. The FEO advised me to ring the office the day it ran out to check whether it would be issued in time, I did that and they told me that it had been done, so no problems.
Police forces don't generally want to cause us problems and extra expense, and fully recognise that there is a security risk involved if I have to transport a car load of rifles and ammo to a RFD and then back again.