Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: concept on December 18, 2009, 06:27:58 pm

Title: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: concept on December 18, 2009, 06:27:58 pm
Would you welcome licensing window cleaning in England as per Scotland?

Pro's?

Con's?

Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: stephen s on December 18, 2009, 06:35:22 pm
defo welcome it,    I know it wont solve the problems of bogus w/cs  but it would defo be a start and in time it would be reconised by more and more bodies which has to be a good thing
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: Window Washers on December 18, 2009, 06:39:34 pm
I would welcome it.
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: martinsadie on December 18, 2009, 06:40:14 pm
dont want it ,would just be another money maker for the council
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: david watts on December 18, 2009, 06:42:39 pm
dont want it ,would just be another money maker for the council
too right one more con nobody would enforce.
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: BORBRYCE on December 18, 2009, 06:47:57 pm
dont want it ,would just be another money maker for the council
too right one more con nobody would enforce.

As a Scot paying a licence fee all I can say is your council will take your £150 or whatever and give you nothing whatsoever for that money, bugger all, nano, nowt, el ziltcho,big fat zero, not a single sniff of their farts.
I pay up cos its law here, but with gritted teeth.

ps....Furthermore, in time they will divide the area up into sections and charge even more for each section.
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: daniel worgan on December 18, 2009, 06:49:33 pm
Will not stop dole bludgers/cowboys as it will never be enforced properly.We pay enough taxes as it is so i wiould not welcome it at all.
Why do we have to have restrictions on everything we do in this world...we are window cleaners providing a service that cannot harm anyone.How many wc's are burglars,paedo's etc.....I guess this is what the license will be aimed at stopping people with criminal convictions earning a living....heard all the rubbish before...keep it up in the land of jocks dont bring it down here.
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: lee_dewing on December 18, 2009, 06:49:46 pm
NO!

as stan said, no-one would chase after the cowboys, if you have work in different boroughs you'd need several license's; as i understand it....i might be wrong.

NO NO
NO thanks.

Bit like tv licence, bloody con.
only country in the world you can go to prison for watching your telly (illegally) ??? ??? ???
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: lee_dewing on December 18, 2009, 06:51:10 pm
well said dan
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: Blue Frog Systems on December 18, 2009, 06:58:13 pm
I think it would be a good idea. Would get rid of the cowboys (though only if it was enforced correctly).

I don't think you should have a licence for each county or area though. Just one that covers the UK would work.

Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: Mike #1 on December 18, 2009, 07:01:20 pm
yse if it's done properly
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: Ian Lancaster on December 18, 2009, 07:27:09 pm
Just read all the posts to date. 

The answer must be a resounding NO.

The reason is simple: it would not be policed.  No one would enforce non-compliants so it would only ever be a revenue generating excercise.

Law abiding 'up front' businesses with a high local profile would be targetted by the issuing authority, every anonymous window cleaner, whether dole cheat or not would be ignored.

This would create a totally unfair 'two tier' situation which would only benefit the tax collectors and those who remain 'under the radar'

Plenty of people have said "If it's done properly"  Join the real world - that would never happen.
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: daz1977 on December 18, 2009, 08:19:19 pm
if they did issue licence, would then limit the no in each area, like they do with black cabs  for instance, could 5 people all working together could apply for a town and have it all sown up,  and no one else would be allow to work there patch

or would it just be a free for all, get ur licence the work where you want
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: Sapphire Window Cleaning on December 18, 2009, 08:21:27 pm
If it was regulated properly then yes.
If they regulate it like other trades at the moment then no
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: williamx on December 18, 2009, 09:59:14 pm
For those that have answered yes, what are you expecting the licence scheme to achive that you can not already do now?
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: mci services on December 18, 2009, 10:01:25 pm
as ronnie says no no no i pay my fee and never get asked for it, customers dont know it exists, the police have never asked me for it

if i drive for twenty minutes in any direction from my house i would need another 5 licences to cover me and at 170 quid just for my area it all adds up and remember if you have an employee they need it as well.

i keep hearing about police operations but the cowboys still turn up after a few weeks
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: Window Washers on December 18, 2009, 10:16:17 pm
For those that have answered yes, what are you expecting the licence scheme to achive that you can not already do now?
I think they would for a start ned to learn from the mistake that are clearly happening in Scotland.
I do think if they did do this for us there would need to be guidelines and them guidelines followed, it would stop the beer brigage window cleaner if they put it on tv and marketed it in the right way. I would not mind paying for a ticket to show I am registered insured etc.
how they would police it is another matter.


When I answered yes I answered because I do think it would be a good idea. but ideas need to be developed  ;)
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: williamx on December 18, 2009, 10:38:30 pm
Hi Ian,

I can not understand, why some want a scheme, that is going to cost a fortune for some to operate.

If you have to be crb checked, it will mean that some cleaners who have been working legally and paying taxes for years will be forced out of the trade because of a mistake in their past.

It will not benefit the the window cleaning industry at all, but it will give your local councils a new source of income which they don't have to work for.

It will not stop the beer brigade/dole cheat, especially with 2 and 1/2 million people on the dole.


Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: jeff1 on December 18, 2009, 11:35:13 pm
Just look at our Scottish friends, I think their getting a raw deal at the moment, the cost of the license is far to much for a single area, a separate license for each area is pathetic, does the local plumber have to have a license Just to work in an area? I doubt it and then if the windy employ's staff then each member of staff has to have a license for each of those area's also.
 
I know Doug has been working hard with all the authorities and I don't know how far he's gotten with them but I don't see any members shouting they are getting value for money.
 
I'll happily buy a license if its policed properly but somehow I can't see that appointed council official leaving his/her nice warm cozy office and leaving his/her cup of slim fast hot chocolate When its freezing cold or snowing outside, they'll probably think that no one in their right mind would be fool enough to work in such weather?  Well they may be right in thinking that for the beer brigade or dole dodger but for the honest guy How wrong they will be?.
 
As usual they will want everyone else to do their Job for them, you'll have to phone them up on their special window cleaner grass hot line to tell them that Joe Blogs is on the dole because you see him going to the pub every day.... Because any honest hard working guy can't afford to do that. 

Knowing our local council the phone call will be one of those £1.50 a minute phone lines  ::) with press 1 for this 2 for that with Gary Jules singing  Mad World as the back ground music, you'll eventually get through and they put you on hold for another 30 minutes while he/she sits there seeing how many screwed up papers they can throw through the waste paper hoop attached to their bin and every so often typing in numbers onto their calculator to see how much extra they have Just screwed out of you for that £1.50 a minute phone call. 
 
So until they get it right, I'll stick with the no vote.
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: BORBRYCE on December 19, 2009, 12:03:48 am
Well what can I say Jeff........ Think you just about got this whole licensing thing sussed out. Lads..... its a no no...... dont go there. ;D ;)
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: dazmond on December 19, 2009, 12:19:26 am
bloody hell jeff ur on ur soap box tonight! ;D ;D.ur dead right though!! ;) ;) :D
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: jouk45 on December 19, 2009, 02:15:16 am
to be honest, i am now starting to think, this licence is not really for us w/c, but for the public to have a saftey choice only, yes you are right, very rarlely do you ever see any inspectors, its not like you see a marked van running around, if there was, i think this would help, also most of the w/c that are not licensed, work at the weekends, what council civil servant,  do you know that works weekends, right?
the other half have taken to the hills so to speak, the countryside, the houses are a bit apart and of the beaten track, will these inspectors scour the countryside, never? but saying all this, i still get loads of work, very few ask if i am  licensed, i would say 1 out of every 100 asks if am licensed, very low indeed?, if the licensing is going to work, its the public that has to be informed, heres my big question, if it is illegal not to have a w/c license, then it must be illegal for any member of the public to employ one? so why are they not charge,
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: leapstallbuildings on December 19, 2009, 07:47:34 am
I am against this.  I've listed my reasons in the past.  The control freaks of this world already have far too much power IMO.
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: mark dew on December 19, 2009, 08:07:59 am
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Title: Re: Licensing - would you welcome it?
Post by: Sean Dyer on December 19, 2009, 08:35:32 am
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
what he said