FAC Questions

[jdwoodbury]

7 months here under West Mercia Police (Herefordshire, Shropshire & Worcestershire)

[Mattnall]

A guy at work put in for his licence in September 2015 to Essex and got the grant (FAC delivered) middle of July 2016.

[aris]

Sent in my first FAC application (I've had SGC for a while) on the 15th of Sep, cheque cashed on the 27th, had interview today, license should drop through the post next week.

Got what I asked for - two rimfire, and a centrefire. Target and game shooting - closed ticket for now, but can open it up in a years time if I can get signed off by an experience shooter with an open ticket.

Hertfordshire are a very efficient and friendly team!

[Alberto]

You're just rubbing it in now. :(

It must be down to resources. Essex police have always been fine when I've had dealings with them, so I struggle to believe the Firearms team are the exception. Essex doesn't seem to have a significantly different gun ownership pattern to the surrounding counties either. Too few officers is the explanation I presume. I'm not sure I'm brave/foolish enough to complain and mark myself out as a 'trouble maker' though so waiting is probably the only option.

[aris]

I have a friend in Thames Valley (Buckinghamshire) who has been waiting on a variation for longer than it has taken me to get my whole FAC. I did ask the FEO why they were so efficient and and Thames Valley were not. I got a wry smile in response :-o

In all though the interview was a pleasant experience. Very friendly guy (he was the same chap who did my SGC interview), no question was too much trouble.

He did say they are looking to do the applications online in the future (nationwide, not just HERTS). How far in the future he could not say but it was something that was actively being worked on. This is one of the reasons they no longer need a signature on the referee forms - it is a one part of the slow move to online applications/variations.

Another interesting snippet of info: Where you live can make a pretty dramatic difference on the time for processing your FAC. He had several in my area and he could do them all on the same day. Result - for me. He did say there was one chap who they needed to interview who lived in an outlying area - and he was the ONLY one in that area - so to maximise efficiencies, he may have to wait until they have other work in that area before he gets his interview. Unfair I suppose, but it makes sense with regards to running an efficient service.

[Alberto]

That's interesting. Maybe I need to volunteer for the online process.

[Mattnall]

Recently Essex have had an overhaul of their processes due to some irregularities and are checking most/all existing fac and sgc holders. This has dramatically upped the workload and you can guess how many extra staff they've had drafted to help. Expect delays.

[pbrazendale]

Just a quick note I'm under GMP and I was told 16 weeks for new grants and they also said they would aim to do it sooner than that. I will post back and let you know how accurate this is.


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[Ash]

I sent off my application beginning of Feb and had an FEO out last week (Hampshire). I have checked with the two referee's I put down and they have not had any calls. Do they always speak to them as part of the process? I will stop eagerly checking the post if I know they will get called first.

[Mail2pete]

Hi, I know of one person in Hampshire that got his first ticket without even getting a visit from the FEO.


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