Shotgun certificate waiting times

[swotty]

Stupidly I let my Shotgun certificate expire a couple of years ago as I had sold my guns and was moving into town. I'm now in the process of re applying as i'm nearer to the countryside again and have to go through the entire rigmarole again.

My application was sent on 1st May this year and the accompanying cheque was cashed almost straight away. The weeks passed and I hadn't heard anything so I called Firearms licencing and was told that the FEO that my application has been assigned to was about to go on holiday for a month, I asked if this could be reassigned but was told not. So, twelve weeks on I have just had my interview with the FEO where upon he has also checked my security arrangements etc. At the end of the interview I was told that he would type everything up by the end of the week, my application would then sit with a large pile of other applications and in "several weeks" I should hear something!

My previous certificate was with Cheshire Constabulary 12yrs ago and took 4 weeks to process from posting to receiving the cert.

Lesson learnt in future is to pay the £40 and keep the licence running even without any guns!

Has anyone else had experience of what seems to me a very long time in processing an application?

 

[resnikov]

I think mine was about 12 weeks. This was for my first time applying for a SGC don't know if that made a difference or not. It was with North Yorkshire Police.

 

[British Red]

I did a renewal well in advance about a year ago. I can't recall how long it took but many months. BASC report 6 month delays in some areas. I put pressure on by formally requesting a temporary certificate - which speeded mine along, but sadly you don't have that advantage. When I eventually got it they had made a mistake with it! I rang up dischuffed and they fixed it within the week. I suspect its just a short staffing problem when forces are under cost and man power pressure, not the fault of individuals working there.

 

[IanM]

Talk with BASC (I trust you are a member). They are interested in SGC and FAC waiting times and can often speed things up with a quick call. They are aware of the good and bad firearms departments and work with the police higher management to get better service and a common policy across the country.

Edited to add:
Cross posted with Red but must reinforce that BASC membership is worth every penny and more. I too have had massive delays in renewals together with refusal to issue a temporary certificate. A call to BASC and an email saying I would hold the police responsible for the cost of storage at a firearms dealer brought my FAO round to the house at 21:30 with my temporary section 7 certificate that night.

 

[swotty]

Talk with BASC (I trust you are a member). They are interested in SGC and FAC waiting times and can often speed things up with a quick call. They are aware of the good and bad firearms departments and work with the police higher management to get better service and a common policy across the country.

Edited to add:
Cross posted with Red but must reinforce that BASC membership is worth every penny and more. I too have had massive delays in renewals together with refusal to issue a temporary certificate. A call to BASC and an email saying I would hold the police responsible for the cost of storage at a firearms dealer brought my FAO round to the house at 21:30 with my temporary section 7 certificate that night.

I'm not a member of the BASC but am a member of the Countryside Alliance so I might send them an email to see if they can assist. Thanks for the advice.