From: "Alex Hamilton", [EMAIL PROTECTED] I met an acquaintance at Bisley yesterday, who told me that he had applied for renewal last July and just got it a week ago. His FAC actually expired at the end of August and he put his guns in storage at Bisley and continued using them. He asked the police (Hampshire) and they told him that that would be OK. As soon as his FAC came back, he wrote a polite letter suggesting that if the renewal was taking three months then the reminders should be sent earlier to give the police time to renew before the expiry date, but he did not get a reply yet. When my FAC was due for renewal earlier this year I submitted the form late as I had some difficulty in finding the second referee who was not connected with shooting. My firearms officer actually rang me to say that he wanted to inspect my security arrangement and when he came I mentioned my concern about late application and that the FAC could expire before it had been renewed. He said: "You are right about the technical offence, but I would not worry about it." Thames Valley may be better resourced than some other forces, but is there a possibility that the police are genuinely snowed under and what some are experiencing is nothing more than a mixture of muddle, overwork and frustration? Alex -- They certainly are snowed under, because (a) of the two-year break in renewals because of the lengthening of certificate life, some forces laid off staff and now don't have enough staff and (b) they now have to visit everyone personally which is very time consuming. Steve. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
