To confirm what I said previous about Radio Licence .....

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Rec'd this e-mail from Ofcom :

Dear Mr Luther,



We have received your application for a ships radio licence. Unfortunately, we are unable to process the licence at the moment as there was no payment method attached. Since your licence expired in September, 2006, a £20 charge is necessary for the licence to be re-issued. If you can contact us with a payment method, then the application can be processed.



Regards,



Dated 05-12-2006 ......
 
Nigel, perhaps I'm missing something, but I'm not sure I understand the point you're making. Your licence was due to expire on or before 30 September, therefore you needed to cough up.

Although Ofcom is responsible for ships’ radio and for ships’ portable radio licensing, the processing function has been contracted out to the Radio Licensing Centre (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Mail Group plc.). The Radio Licensing Centre (RLC) will continue to issue ships’ radio licences until 30 September 2006. Any licences which are due to expire on or before this date must be renewed by contacting the RLC. Licences issued, renewed or amended on or before 30 September 2006 will be subject to existing licence terms and conditions:
• The licence will remain valid for one year;
• The fee for a hand portable licence will be £15;
• The fee for a ships’ radio licence will be £20
• There will be a requirement to display the licence disc until the 30 September 2006.
 
Seems silly (if I understand it correctly) that someone wanting a license for the first time will get it for free as long as they apply online but if you want to renew one that has expired you will have to pay £20.

Is that correct /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Sgeir .... you and I agree ....

But the waffle and rubbish I sustained from the "experts" went far beyond belief .... so I am just planting the first post that confirms what I said all along ....

MY radio Station will now be de-commisioned except for Emergency Use only - with suitable notice diplayed next to it ... so "b***&^%$£s" to 'em ....
 
Re: Sgeir .... you and I agree ....

Don't know what all the fuss is bout. AFAIK the free licences started 1st October so you missed the gate, cough up 20 quid and you'll be licenced for life

Mine doesn't expire until March 07 so I've already paid the 20 quid. Big deal
 
Tough luck but I'm not surprised. I will probably find myself in the same position if and when I decide to apply for a new one although in my case I deliberately decommissioned the station several years ago.

The key to our position, I think lies in the wording

"If you wish to reinstate a callsign or MMSI it will be necessary for you to use a paper application form"

Although I am not really concerned about reinstating the old callsign and MMSI does not apply.


IT IS HOWEVER TOO SOON to know whether or not the on-lne application and self printing of NEW licences works or not as they cannot actually be applied for until the logon password is recieved and that is not for 5 days after the request for it was made. The earliest that could be done was 1 Dec so it'll be next week end at the earliest that the system can be truly tested.

I remain quite confident that anyone now applying for a brand new licence will be able to do so on-line and be able to print it without charge. Thats the whole point of the new system.
 
Have you tried a new license application on line? That should be free but will have new call sign etc.

You are trying to get an expired license reissued, so payment is due.

My understanding of the law is that having a VHF on board requires it to be licensed. Using it except for emergencies, requires an operators license or supervision by a holder. Your solution is illegal in UK, may be different in Latvia.
 
Re: Sgeir .... you and I agree ....

Must have missed all that stuff. Our new one (old licence expires this month) came through the post weeks ago, No forms to fill, no fee sent, or asked for.
 
Re: Sgeir .... you and I agree ....

yep - I felt mighty pissed off that I couldn;t get a partial refund on mine either.............considered trading standards but eventually bought a beer to cry into instead

/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
Re: Sgeir .... you and I agree ....

[ QUOTE ]
Must have missed all that stuff. Our new one (old licence expires this month) came through the post weeks ago, No forms to fill, no fee sent, or asked for

[/ QUOTE ] Yes you have missed several threads over recent months. sbc has been trying to tell us for ages that that we are all wrong about new licences being issued free to on-line applicants.

You are not the first to have confirmed that they have recieved an automatically issued free licence when an existing one expired. That has been happening since 1 Oct although during Oct and Nov there were interim arrangements in place but since 1 Dec they should have been issuing the "lifetime" ones automatically and free of charge.

All the details are here:- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/maritime/

The bit I quoted earlier about reinstating callsigns requiring a postal applications is something that only appeared recently.
 
Bloo**y Latvia is EU ...

It's the Latvian Inspectors are the problem ... not Ofcom ...

Oh and Vics - you've misunderstood ... I did not say that payment was due for all etc. What I said was that any application that required posting falling outside of the on-line requires the £20 ..... I repeated what the Ofcom guy told me ....

My main point prev. and also now is that many have the essence of the new system - but also that there are a lot who assume further than that and state it as fact ... when it is likely not ...

We have seen people post that they rec'd replacement licences free even though they ran out similar to mine ... we have seen posts where people have to pay similar to mine ... the Ofcom site used to have a line in it ... removed later when I tried to link to it some time back that said clearly that any application before and after Dec 1 that meant New or Re-issue incurred postal form and £20 ... but as I said before and say now - that line has been removed from their site ... BUT Ofcom guy on the phone confirmed that as his instructions from on high ...

So it's a mess - whatever people say .. some are getting freebies when they shouldn't ... others are getting what they expect ...

Me - I'm paying up before Latvian Inspector fines me a lot more than £20 ....
 
Re: Sgeir .... you and I agree ....

Because the Latvian authorities require your call sign when you enter the country. At least they did with me, and as I'd got the boat in Gdansk, and hadn't yet got a licence, I 'invented' a call sign.

Nicholas Hill

My Baltic Cruise
 
Mine came in by Truck !!!

But I'm sure that Normands - when he's out on the river in his Patrol Rib ... he's going to sidle over and ask a few q's .... especially as he knows I have 2 UK reg'd boats here !! It's golden opportunity he can't turn up !! So he thinks !!!
 
Rules have changed ...

It used to be 6 months and then a trip out .... and back. With it now being EU - it's debatable and I am still in process of finding out....... but as the border controls are lax now - its one of those areas that might just be ignored ...

If I have to do it ... Then I can run down to Palanga / Klaipeda in Lithuania along the coastline ..... with a number of stop points on the way ...

In Estonia - friend of mine has had a Conrad 12m in Pirita Marina for quite a few years and it's Swedish flagged .... never bothered with his etc.

Probably the day I actually ask - is the day I have a problem !!

With a UK car it's 3 months now ... but that's enforceable as the car being RHD is a dead give-away. But as Customs and Border Guards told us just a couple of weeks ago ... EU borders now literally don't keep records of EU items crossing now .. so actual date of out and re-entry is difficult for them to check .....
 
[ QUOTE ]
...I remain quite confident that anyone now applying for a brand new licence will be able to do so on-line and be able to print it without charge. Thats the whole point of the new system.

[/ QUOTE ]
Just done mine Vic, new licence, new call sign, all done on line and free. As anticipated and as said on the Ofcom website all along. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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