Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by zooma » Wed May 29, 2013 8:14 am

Despite my concerns, the Walther CP2 has now been delivered to me safely by DPD following its return to the carrier by the Border Agency once they were happy about it being a legal target shooting pistol and its intended use in the target shooting sport.

I would have preferred not to have had the delay, but once the Border Agency letter had been received and I contacted them about it, everything went smoothly and ended up OK on this occasion.

Although there are a lot of collectors and users of replica firearms, I fully understand the problems these can cause and respect the concerns being shown regarding their free passage into the UK, so given this current problem I am reasonably happy with my experience and hope others with genuine target shooting air pistols that they are importing have a similar happy ending.
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by jassi » Wed May 29, 2013 8:57 am

Do you have a contact name & phone number for Coventry? The number I have is permanently engaged and to date, all my emails have been ignored.
Ian

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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by zooma » Wed May 29, 2013 10:24 am

jassi wrote:Do you have a contact name & phone number for Coventry? The number I have is permanently engaged and to date, all my emails have been ignored.
Ian
Hi Ian,

I found the best route to open up a dialogue is to make a contact with the local Parcelforce depot that serves your address - give them the consignment number ( DPD, DHL etc?) and they will let you know the Parcelforce number that they will have converted it to as it entered the UK - they do not use the original carriers consignment number.

Your original carrier can advise you when it entered the UK ( so can your local Parcelforce depot) - this date may help track your parcel along with the new GB number.

Having started the two pronged search you can then call customs at Coventry and quote the new Parcelforce number ( starting with GB) on 0845 0109000, and with your local depot making the same inquiry for you ( they always send an email to customs to log the inquiry) you should start to make some progress.

If in the meantime you should receive a letter from Border Force about your parcel - just call them direct on the number provided - having got to this stage I found them very helpful and far more efficient than the route you have to take without Border Force taking an interest in your air pistol.

You will be invited to send them a letter ( I sent an email) to explain why you should be allowed to keep this particular air pistol ie - you are the legal owner, it is a legal pistol that fully complies with all relevant UK laws and it is NOT a replica of a firearm.

You are invited to let them know what use you may put the pistol to - and although this may not be a solid requirement, if you intended to use it for target shooting for example it may help reassure them.

.....every little helps.....as they say!
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by jassi » Wed May 29, 2013 11:01 am

Hi Bob,

I've done all that. Returned the letter, which was signed by A beaufoy and sent emails as well - so far with no response.
The number provided - 02476212857 is constantly engaged, even at times when it might be expected to be on an answerphone.
There is a fax number, but I have no confidence that that route will be any more successful in making contact.

Ian
Last edited by jassi on Wed May 29, 2013 4:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by Tank » Wed May 29, 2013 4:21 pm

You could always try faxing them using TPC, nothing ventured as they say: http://www.tpcint.org/tpc/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by zooma » Wed May 29, 2013 4:37 pm

Tank wrote: an invaluable resource in it's day.
......................much like you good self I would say :D
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by zooma » Wed May 29, 2013 4:41 pm

jassi wrote:Hi Bob,

I've done all that- so far with no response.
The number provided - 02476212857 is constantly engaged.............

Ian
Have you tried the new Coventry number I gave you yet?

It worked for me, and the helpful person I spoke to (on that number) even went to find my package to let me know that it was safe, still there, why it was being held.
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by jassi » Wed May 29, 2013 5:05 pm

Hi, I haven't had any success with that number yet - think I clicked the wrong option and got a lot of guff about vehicle registration. Will try again in the morning.

In the meantime, I sent a fax (thanks for that link Tanks) and will see if that gets any response.

Thanks for all the advise, Ian

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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by zooma » Wed May 29, 2013 5:41 pm

jassi wrote:Hi, I haven't had any success with that number yet - think I clicked the wrong option and got a lot of guff about vehicle registration. Will try again in the morning.

In the meantime, I sent a fax (thanks for that link Tanks) and will see if that gets any response.

Thanks for all the advise, Ian

Ask for Paul on option 3.
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by jassi » Fri May 31, 2013 9:01 am

The saga continues.

Having rung the number provided by Bob, I finally managed to speak to an actual person :shock:
She claimed that she couldn't actually help me directly but would arrange for someone in the offending department to phone me. Needless to say, this didn't happen,but this morning I finally received an email from them.
20 day backlog in correspondence blah blah - cases dealt with in strict order of reply etc etc.
I hope that the information that I sent is adequate, as it looks as if it might be mid-June before I hear any more
The good news is that I now have a person email address for a member of staff, so I can target her if necessary.

I just hope this gun is worth the effort by the time I finally receive it

Ian

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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by zooma » Fri May 31, 2013 9:55 am

Well at least you have got a "live" dialog started with a phone number that works, so hopefully you are now on the right road that will help you towards a happy ending.

Keep us up to date with your progress as your blog will be of interest ( and hopefully help) to others that will have the same experience in the future as it is obvious that "somebody somewhere" has decided to cause this problem (and resulting bottleneck) as the free flow of imports that worked so smoothly for many years has now almost ground to a standstill.

It is probably not gone down too well with the staff at Border Control much either - I cannot imagine that they will be too happy about having the place choked-up, or with having to deal with the increased level of questions and complaints about the system now failing to work as efficiently as it should.

................another government cock-up? - or some jumped-up "jobsworth" that wants to make a name for himself? :clap:

If the latter is the case, then he or she has succeeded - but probably not in gaining the name they would have hoped for :lol:
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by jassi » Fri May 31, 2013 10:31 am

When this is finally resolved, I intend to lodge a complaint with HMRC - not about the staff at Coventry, but about the appallingly poor communications system they have in place.
If the phone is permanently engaged, then they clearly need more lines made available and there is absolutely no excuse for not responding to emails and faxes within 24 hours.

I don't mind the delay - well I do, but its the inability to find out what is going on that annoys me so much - faceless bureaucracy at its worst.
I hope I don't have to experience this sort of thing every time I want to buy from Europe.

Mrs May has admitted that the Border Agency is not fit for purpose, but her 'reform' doesn't seem much better.

Ian

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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by pmh » Fri May 31, 2013 10:47 am

The reality is that the Government is fit for purpose, and is time for a radical rethink.

As had been mentioned, there is quite clearly a training issue here. It would appear that nobody in Coventry had the slightest clue when it comes to perfectly legal air guns.

In the bigger picture of this, surely air guns are very low on the priority list.

Kind regards,



Phil
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by zooma » Fri May 31, 2013 10:54 am

pmh wrote:The reality is that the Government is fit for purpose, and is time for a radical rethink.

Phil

I think you mean NOT fit for purpose. :shhh:
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Re: Air Pistols Stuck in Coventry?

Post by pmh » Fri May 31, 2013 11:31 am

Well spotted, I just didn't want to ruin my chances of a knighthood. :laughing-rolling:

Kind regards,



Phil
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