fines for no licences

[Guest TheDacer]

I notice that most of these people were fishing commercial stillwaters.

 

What about making it the job of the stillwaters to check the licences of those who are fishing their water?

 

If they did do so - and were obliged by law to do so, on pain of being fined for not doing so - then the EA could use all it's bailiffs on the Rivers and Canals instead.

 

After all, if you couldn't fish your local carp puddle without a licence - surely more people would buy them?

[Guest dave k]

Some stillwaters have EA licences for sale,but not all of them if they did sell them as you have said Dacer it would generate more money for the EA and the fisheries.

 

All PAA coaches have books of 1 day licences that cost £1 and can be redeemed against the purchase of a full licence.

 

If there were more sceames like that about with lessons for newcomers it would be a big benefit to angling.

 

all food for thought.

 

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dave kennedy USSC Angling

ANMC Founder Member

[Guest phil dean]

when my local club do "introduction to angling days" they usually get some free licences from the EA, seems a good idea and gets others involved and taught by those that (hopefully) know what they're on about

 

If you can put a viable scheme together the EA are usually happy to find a way to work with you. (Not talking fish baits in Cumbria here of course)

 

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phil,

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[Guest davidP]

Originally posted by martyn357:

...I am a club bailiff and as far as I am aware the only authority I have is to check for club membership books not EA licenses. However in saying that has anyone noticed on the back of their rod licence it states that the license should be produced to EA bailiffs on production of their warrant, police officers and to other anglers who show their license and ask to see yours (?)

 

 

As a holder of a valid licence you are perfectly within your rights to request to seethe licence of another angler. What your powers are if he doesn't have one I'm not sure (ie citizens arrest etc), and I've got to be honest and say that in these violent times I have no intention of finding out!

As a bailif however you have a legal power to be checking paperwork, and so if it became known that you were checking both club permits and national licences you'd soon find that everybody would have one.

 

The EA used to run a scheme whereby club officials could become honorary EA Bailifs with full powers regarding licencing, but sadly this was stopped due to insurance problems. It's a pity they had to do this because it was a very useful power for a club to have!

 

[This message has been edited by davidP (edited 18 December 2001).]

[Guest blankedagain]

when tackle shops, clubs and so on were allowed to sell licenses you had to show your license BEFORE you could join or renew your membership to the the club i belonged to at the time. It is only since the EA In their wisdom) decided that licenses could only be purchased at PO's or online that it appears that license dodging has become a big issue with them. Surely if there were more outlets, ie fisheries,clubs, tackle shops, there would be more opertunity to buy a license there would be less excuse for not buying one if you did not want to buy one for the year then at least you could buy a one day one on the day to cover you. But i suppose that like people who dont tax their cars for example they know that the chances of being caught are very small. Conversly if there were more outlets, that would increase sales, that would increase revenue which in turn would allow more funds to be spent on enforcement and that would lead to more people buying licenses. it seems like common sense to me but then i'm only an angler what would i know

 

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catching fish is a bonus!

[Guest phil hackett]

In one of the clubs that I’m a member of, the bailiffs ask to see not only your club card but your EA licence as well. If you don’t produce it (and the club rules say you must carry it at all times with your club card) the bailiff takes your card and orders you off the water.

You are then summons before the committee and if you can not produce a valid licence for the time you were fishing, you are dismissed from the club forthwith.

 

I would also add, there are few members out of the 7000 + membership that don’t have a valid licence.

 

It seems to me a most effective way of self-policing for clubs and the EA.

[Guest dave k]

The reason that the post office got the contract to sell licences is because some tackle shops still owe the EA money from licence sales. At least with the post office they are garenteed there money.

 

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dave kennedy USSC Angling

ANMC Founder Member

[Guest davidP]

Originally posted by blankedagain:

when tackle shops, clubs and so on were allowed to sell licenses you had to show your license BEFORE you could join or renew your membership to the the club i belonged to at the time. It is only since the EA In their wisdom) decided that licenses could only be purchased at PO's or online that it appears that license dodging has become a big issue with them. Surely if there were more outlets, ie fisheries,clubs, tackle shops, there would be more opertunity to buy a license there would be less excuse for not buying one if you did not want to buy one for the year then at least you could buy a one day one on the day to cover you.  But i suppose that like people who dont tax their cars for example they know that the chances of being caught are very small. Conversly if there were more outlets, that would increase sales, that would increase revenue which in turn would allow more funds to be spent on enforcement and that would lead to more people buying licenses. it seems like common sense to me but then i'm only an angler what would i know  

 

 

There are aproximately 19,500 Post Offices in the UK and they all sell fishing licences (except Scotland probably). That is far far more outlets than there ever were before the Post office took over the sales. Think about it - how many tackle shops do you have in a 10 mile radius and then compare to the number of Post Offices. Actually, I just went and did a count in my local Yellow pages (Reading) and there are 158 Post Offices against 17 tackle shops. How much easier do you want it to be??

[Guest John S]

Originally posted by dave k:

The reason that the post office got the contract to sell licences is because some tackle shops still owe the EA money from licence sales. At least with the post office they are garenteed there money.

 

 

When tackle shops sold licences, they had to buy books of them from the EA, but were not allowed refunds on unsold ones. In other words, if they had some left over at the end of the season, the shop owners lost money.

 

 

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John S

 

john@go-fishing.co.uk

Remember the past, live for today, think about tomorrow.

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[Guest davidP]

There was also the fact that many tackle shops kept their licence sale records on the back of a fag packet and the money in a tin behind the counter. A few tackle shops went under owing the agency money and then the shop owners started bleating that they didn't earn enough commision from the sales. In many ways the tackle shops were their own worst enemies. The Post Office gives them many more outlets, good record keeping & guaranteed payment on time.

 

I certainly agree however that it would be useful if other sellers were permitted such as the larger commercial fisheries, big clubs etc and they have allowed this on a limited scale I believe, but I don't think the EA want to go back to the days of unaccountability that they had previously.

 

As for making it a legal requirement for club and/or waters to make a licence check mandatory, well that's a bit more tricky. Responsibility for obeying the law is always down to the individual. Making someone a criminal because they didn't stop other people breaking the law is a dodgy step, particularly for something as inconsequential in the big scheme of things as angling is. I certainly think however that clubs and owners should be positively encouraged to make the checks themselves and make a stand. Trouble is, I could see a lot of big venues not being too enthusiastic cos they'd lose money on sales once word went round.