[JSMC]

does anyone have any info on the 2 types of zone. This seems so wrong if ye ask me. I assumed if a council issued a licence it was for their area. how can they go about splitting it up forcing  more cash out of ye?


anyone any info???

[BORBRYCE]

Yup, tis a con. South lanarkshire zone A is for East Kilbride, Rutherglen, Hamilton, Larkhall, very commercialised areas. Zone B, Carluke, lanark, Douglas, Lesmahagow, Coalburn, more of a rural part of the county. It is a huge overall area but still a feckin con all the same.

[JSMC]

defo a feckin con if ye ask me. how they get away with this crap? mor ei am thinking about it this licence malarky is crap. Not once have ai been stopped by police or wardens and i know loads of firms who dont have them at all.

think i may join them

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

watch out guys doug is due home soon

 

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

seriously though, it is a con, but unfortunately it is the law and we have no power to do anything about it, it all has to go through the scottish parly to make any changes, but i know doug is on the case re a fairer licensing structure across scotland. 

[leapstallbuildings]

You wait till they want to issue a separate license for each road.  Give an inch and the take the  errrm  mile.

[simon knight]

defo a feckin con if ye ask me. how they get away with this crap? mor ei am thinking about it this licence malarky is crap. Not once have ai been stopped by police or wardens and i know loads of firms who dont have them at all.

think i may join them

You have no chance of not having a licence now. The Council have you down as a window cleaner and if you suddenly tell them you've packed it in they'll be camping outside your front door waiting to see if you load up the ladders etc.

Once you've got a licence there's no going back I'm afraid

[pingu]

Lets face it were all tax payers so why could the fuzz, council officials not check up on the tax database as to who we are and that were are what we say we are...

Are you all not also registered with companies house, the taxman, various other departments within the gov't who have your records..but licensing on a local scale sounds pants and toothless to boot..

Dave.

[Davie T]

I have said this previously -   being licensed is OK however there is no need ( other than financial gain) to have a different w/c/ licence for each deignated area.
Perhaps it is now time to question the crusade of individual licensing in Scotland ?

[JSMC]

i don't have  a licence for south lanarkshire because i dont work in that area but have been asked to quote on some work for a company. I find it unfair a council decides to split up it's area into even more zones. this is wrong.

I wonder if the same applies to taxi drivers for south lanarkshire also?

[BORBRYCE]

i don't have  a licence for south lanarkshire because i dont work in that area but have been asked to quote on some work for a company. I find it unfair a council decides to split up it's area into even more zones. this is wrong.

I wonder if the same applies to taxi drivers for south lanarkshire also?

Yes it does apply to taxis as well and private hire. Udingston is a smallish town mabey 20,000 people or so, so get this.....Udingston north is North Lanarkshire, while Udingston south is South Lanarkshire zone A. Ten minutes up the road is Rosebank, South Lanarkshire zone B, so within a mornings work I need THREE different licences for those three areas at the cost of a small fortune. Its got out of hand so fookit. Iv stopped caring.

[JSMC]

i don't have  a licence for south lanarkshire because i dont work in that area but have been asked to quote on some work for a company. I find it unfair a council decides to split up it's area into even more zones. this is wrong.

I wonder if the same applies to taxi drivers for south lanarkshire also?

Yes it does apply to taxis as well and private hire. Udingston is a smallish town mabey 20,000 people or so, so get this.....Udingston north is North Lanarkshire, while Udingston south is South Lanarkshire zone A. Ten minutes up the road is Rosebank, South Lanarkshire zone B, so within a mornings work I need THREE different licences for those three areas at the cost of a small fortune. Its got out of hand so fookit. Iv stopped caring.

quite right mate thats a total joke the way they are cutting up a council area

[landy2]

i think the only people to have a licence are bull sh****S they are a they about cant stand them

[gerard mcmanus]

i think the only people to have a licence are bull sh****S they are a they about cant stand them

I haven't got a clue what you just said there? 

Anyway, I agree one licence, for the whole of Scotland, no area specific licences that’s wrong, but taxi are the same, why are there areas split as well.

By my calculations, there is only a few nationals they would loose money from and from what I here they are tough to pin down as well, and agree if they work various areas. This only limits the growth of small business. If the councils gave a licence, that gave permit to work anywhere in Scotland, I think the nationals might be more inclined to comply and they would actually gain more...

Who knows, but it does need some serious review. However I am sceptical of that ever happening, considering the length of time the licensing system has been in place and the lack of focus and cooperation it has, and has received. Also fluctuations in prices from one area to the next is unjustified.

[jouk45]

i think the only people to have a licence are bull sh****S they are a they about cant stand them

why would you hate us, we have no choice to have a license, it is the law, the license works well for me, if you know how to sell it to your customers, you win every time, and i use it to my full potential, sorry you feel that way,

[Davie T]

To Ladder Garder.

I agree with your comments !

I believe that the licensed area of Glasgow, perhaps the largest of all the authorities in Scotland, is  not checked or governed by the relevant authorities.  

That means that if you should  have, or do not have a w/c  licence is of little importance to  the police authorities as life will go on as it has been for years, so why bother spending say £80.00 per person per anum  ( Glasgow) ?

I look forward to a reply from the " crusaders" who have been pushing this licensing criteria thru the various authorities over the last year.

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

no crusaders here, just a license payer who expects the councils to do their jobs, that is to make sure the people who come for a license are legal, not on benefits, have no current criminal convictions, and no threat to the public....and to prosecute those who refuse to pay this lawful license fee, and they ( the window cleaner) do have a choice BTW, they can choose to work at something different and not have to comply with the laws regarding self employed people including having insurances, paying tax, paying NI, paying for goods and services and paying for a license.

[DASERVICES]

JMSC,

i will lodge an official complaint as they should have changed that in accordance with the task force report which other Councils have done and brought out one licence.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Sorry for sounding like a broken record but one licence to cover all will NOT happen. Straight from the government so we cannot amend it but we need to fix it.

[gerard mcmanus]

D. A. Services

I know that will never happen with one licence for the whole of Scotland, but is there really any justification for it being the way it is. Is there some positive affect on the industry from separate areas or is it preventing some expected negative effects on the industry if there was one for all.

Maybe I am not being open minded enough but I cant see any, as a window cleaner I am going to want to keep my customers as neatly compact as I can, that’s the way the business is. So what is this segregation going to achieve that the beast doesn't already.

More money for local councils, guaranteeing them there slices of the pie.

[DASERVICES]

To answer that we need to look at what is happening in Scotland which I am sure many of you know some companies that operate this way.

The biggest obstacle for multy licences are those who employ. There are those companies that licence all their employees in each Council area they work in, put their staff on HSE training etc.. pay a decent wage and charge good rates.

On the other side of the scale you have the person who does not licence their employees, do not train them how to use a ladder charge 3 pond a house. They then run their business by saying to their employee 1 pound for you, 1 pound for me, 1 pound for my overheads, and by the way you have to clean 60 houses in a day as target.

These guys then rush through their work, bad results, often fall off ladders but are not insured, some are not fit to hold a licence and nick off customers. If these guys were licensed this would not happen as the employee would have to price high to cover his costs and he would make sure HSE rules are adhered to.

This is actually what happens in most towns and I'm sure a lot of Scottish guys will know someone who operates this way.

Therefore is it fair for the person who runs his business correctly when pricing to hear, my last window cleaner charged half that, we have no faith in window cleaners etc...

All of us run our jobs professionally and are doing great in raising the profile in our industry but those that in our industry that are dragging it down need to be either licensed so they raise their standards or removed.

What we have found where there is a high percentage of licensed window cleaners price are high around 12 pounds, but where stats are low window cleaners can barely raise their prices by 25 pence.

Look at the license as a business tool, bit like a franchise. If run correctly it will work. My whole discussions with the Councils is they have to remove the negative word window cleaner which a lot do. They have to look at us as a business and therefore we have the same rights as any business in the area.

Hope I have put this more clearer. The licence is here to stay so it has to work, enforcement is one issue but there are others etc.. which will probably come like having to attend a HSE course on ladders (free) before applying for a licence.

Doug