Blackmailed by my local doctor's surgery

[Barleycorn]

Don't know if anyone else has had this.

A few months back I applied to renew my shotgun certificate.

I have just had a bill from my local surgery for £36 to pay for replying to inquiries that the police made. They made it clear that they would not release the information to them until I paid, so, as they kindly pointed out, I would not get my shot gun certificate.

Happily they were a bit slow as my licence came back a few days ago, so I will ignore it, but a bloody cheek I would say.

 

[AlfM]

Same here. They sent the demand letter after I'd got shotgun and firearms licence back so I'm ignoring it.

 

[bovine]

Speak to BASC. My wife had this. She has her firearms cert and never paid for the letter.

 

[Farfrae]

Why is it a cheek to charge for a private service. Do you expect them to work for nothing?

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

I'll look forward to that.

I'm renewing both certificates in 2018, but I haven't visited my local surgery since 2010.

How can my GP (not that I have one any more) answer questions for the Police, when I haven't seen him (?) in years and years?

Can they force me to go to the GP and then send me a bill for it?

I've always found it disagreeable that the Police decide who can own or use which guns, where and when.

 

[joe soapy]

the doctors have so many days to reply, if they dont the police consider it a pass.

Dont forget to send the surgery staff a bill if you ever have to rescue them from a ditch

 

[davidroberts30]

lucky...i had a £45 bill just to fill out a insurance claim

 

[Happy hillbily]

Bloomin doctors ! daughter was off ill for a couple of weeks at the begining of term last september the school wanted a sick note, so asked dr for, one the theveng basteward charged £12 for two sentences on a sheet of headed note paper !!!!!!!

 

[Selectamatic]

Everyone has to make a living...

 

[GTB]

Same thing happened to me. The police were waiting for info from the surgery before reissuing my shotgun certificate. The paperwork had been sitting on a desk at the surgery for weeks before they did anything about it. Then they wanted me to pay the fee before sending the aforementioned paperwork back to the police. I paid promptly but still didn't receive my license for many weeks afterwards. I phoned the police HQ to ask what the delay was and they still hadn't got the paperwork back from the surgery. I did get it through eventually, long after the original had expired.

 

[Goweresque]

Everyone has to make a living...

A GP gets approximately £135 per year per patient that is on his or her books, regardless of whether you've been to see them or not. So if you haven't seen a doctor in years, like me, then you're considerably in credit as far as allowing the doctor to make a living....................

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

I'm a UK taxpayer and I pay a fee to renew my certificates, but they still want to give me an invoice for the paperwork?

I'd happily pay more for my certificates and give the whole thing to a different department, freeing up the Police to do their job.

 

[Selectamatic]

A GP gets approximately £135 per year per patient that is on his or her books, regardless of whether you've been to see them or not. So if you haven't seen a doctor in years, like me, then you're considerably in credit as far as allowing the doctor to make a living....................

So what?

Does the GP him/herself get it, or the surgery practice? Whoever get's it, it sounds like it's payment for keeping us healthy, rather than filling in paperwork supporting various applications etc.

You may not have seen them in many years, but there will be others that are there are regularly as possible with all sorts of ailments, etc etc.

I dont think I could deal with many of their 'customers', Hat's off to them.

 

[Paddington]

My doctor's surgery wanted to charge me £35 to corroborate that I was indeed an account holder with my bank that I had been with for over 20 years. Apparently I was such and old valued customer that I pre-dated their security checks .

 

[Red Fred]

I've just done my firearms cert. in Hampshire but haven't had an invoice from the Doctor, the new cert. just came back in a few days. Must be up to the individual doctor. The new referee system seems a lot simpler than the old one.

 

[marcot]

Hasn't this topic come up before and there is something in the small pint that stipulates no charge can be made for supplying references etc?

 

[Muck Spreader]

Bloomin doctors ! daughter was off ill for a couple of weeks at the begining of term last september the school wanted a sick note, so asked dr for, one the theveng basteward charged £12 for two sentences on a sheet of headed note paper !!!!!!!

Lucky it wasn't a lawyer, you could have stuck a zero or two on it then. I remember years ago being charged £60 for a letter from the local bank manager (in the days when Bank Manager meant something). It's not the letter you are necessarily paying for, it's often the professional judgement and the liability risk that goes with it.

 

[JP1]

Don't know if anyone else has had this.

A few months back I applied to renew my shotgun certificate.

I have just had a bill from my local surgery for £36 to pay for replying to inquiries that the police made. They made it clear that they would not release the information to them until I paid, so, as they kindly pointed out, I would not get my shot gun certificate.

Happily they were a bit slow as my licence came back a few days ago, so I will ignore it, but a bloody cheek I would say.

You should try a medical questionnaire for your HGV licence renewal = £85 for 10 minutes work

If it was a proper medical like I used to have at the hospital for the fire service, I wouldn't mind

 

[JP1]

I've always found it disagreeable that the Police decide who can own or use which guns, where and when.

Isn't that their job - for all our sakes?

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Isn't that their job - for all our sakes?

I don't think it is.

I think the Police should use their resources to apprehend people who break the law and help bring them to justice.

The admin side of certificates should be done on a national level, without the "interpretations" of all the different Police forces.

Why should a Policeman decide if I can legally shoot a fox with a .22LR or not?