Beds, Herts and Cambs

[bradaz11]

I put in a variation a few weeks ago, seems to have got lost in the system, as my area of Beds is now being farmed out to cambs to do. turns out my variation had actually been done in house in Hapenden and not sent which made for even more confusion. basically all the folks in harpenden are great, but they have a load of temps in, confusing everything. It will get worse before it gets better

[Tomo]

A recent email from my local club has advised members of the following:-

I’m passing on the following message which I recently received more or less verbatim, since I have no personal knowledge of the situation. However it is from a reliable source and so I understand it to be the case.

I think most of us are aware by now that Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire firearms licencing has been merged with Cambridgeshire. What is now apparent is that this is not an equal merger, but Cambridgeshire are now in charge.

The first thing to note is that FAC holders in the affected counties are now being told to allow 4 months for an application or renewal. Thus if you are within 5 months of your FAC or SGC renewal date, you would be well advised to get it done now whether or not you have received your reminder. It appears that several of the Harpenden staff have resigned as a result of the changes and Harpenden is now no more than a post box, with all applications/renewals being passed straight to Cambridge for initial processing, which is where the backlog begins.

Another thing is that Cambridgeshire have stated that nobody must be in possession of firearms after the date of expiry of their FAC. Beds & Herts had allowed FAC holders to keep their firearms as long as they had their old FAC and the renewal was being processed. This will now stop and firearms will have to be put in storage.

Apparently Cambridge have also stated that it is their intent to reduce ammunition quantities to possibly no more than 300 of each calibre, excluding .22 rimfire. However it is unclear whether they will want to reduce higher quantities if they have been previously approved by Beds & Herts. They also say that wanting larger quantities to obtain better prices is not a "good reason".

Just my luck my renewals due this year