[simon knight]

Reading all of this makes me laugh...sorry guys but it does!

All you pro-licence merchants have been banging on about how licences will ring-fence and protect your income from unscruplous traders... and give you some much needed kudos.  But all I seem to read on this forum is accounts of where it's not only unenforced but the authorities don't give two stuffs!...It's another just another effing tax.

Strangely there are some English w/c's who want licensing!...why not just offer to pay another 10% tax a year?

Are you people effing THICK or what?

[john tomkins]

Reading all of this makes me laugh...sorry guys but it does!

All you pro-licence merchants have been banging on about how licences will ring-fence and protect your income from unscruplous traders... and give you some much needed kudos.  But all I seem to read on this forum is accounts of where it's not only unenforced but the authorities don't give two stuffs!...It's another just another effing tax.

Strangely there are some English w/c's who want licensing!...why not just offer to pay another 10% tax a year?

Are you people effing THICK or what?

 

You been on the scrump jack again simon

[simon knight]

Reading all of this makes me laugh...sorry guys but it does!

All you pro-licence merchants have been banging on about how licences will ring-fence and protect your income from unscruplous traders... and give you some much needed kudos.  But all I seem to read on this forum is accounts of where it's not only unenforced but the authorities don't give two stuffs!...It's another just another effing tax.

Strangely there are some English w/c's who want licensing!...why not just offer to pay another 10% tax a year?

Are you people effing THICK or what?


 

You been on the scrump jack again simon

Nooo! Just nipped home for a spot of lunch (round of cheese/Branson Small Chunk) and while chewing logged-on and read....and couldn't keep my sincere feelings to myself. Anyway back out now...ciao!

[DASERVICES]

Simon,

You are right in a way but we have a tool (license) which should help the trade when our work is at risk. This incident is one of many where a firm hires loads of employees , pays min wage sometimes less (have heard £3 per hour), then undercuts other window cleaners.

This is our livelyhoods and for someone to come along and take work off you by undercutting you by 50% using cheap labour is a huge problem. In England you cannot stop this happening.

In Scotland it can be stopped as we have the protection if the authorities enforce it. Should window cleaners sit back , get threatened, run off their rounds by individuals that are just thugs.

This happens all over the UK but in Scotland it should not happen. Yes there is a problem but enough is enough and licensed guys want action which the SLWCN has been pushing for results. We have this system so it has to work.

Hope you understand if your livelyhood is at stake we cannot sit back.

Cheers

Doug

[Niall McAllister]

the license is not something that anyone wants to pay, but it is law most places up here, so if you want to stay legal you have to pay it. can you imagine getting a speeding ticket then saying , hey i know the law says i have to pay but i don't fancy paying this.
what gets us is that we do pay, and then find the councils don't enforce it.
 we don't wonder about saying, look at me I'm obaying the law, aint i great. ( well not outside the house anyway)

[tomy jackson]

or £30 for seat belt yester day

[gerard mcmanus]

Reading all of this makes me laugh...sorry guys but it does!

All you pro-licence merchants have been banging on about how licences will ring-fence and protect your income from unscruplous traders... and give you some much needed kudos.  But all I seem to read on this forum is accounts of where it's not only unenforced but the authorities don't give two stuffs!...It's another just another effing tax.

Strangely there are some English w/c's who want licensing!...why not just offer to pay another 10% tax a year?

Are you people effing THICK or what?

when we did that pole over 60% wanted it, so I wouldn't say some and as others have said do nothing, and nothing will change, even if a licence makes even a slight diference then its a change for the better in my opinion. Thats not thick.

[gerard mcmanus]

I know a guy whose son was dealt drugs and became addicted, now that guy went to the police and told them who sold him the drugs, and all they said was we need evidence.

That guy rented a flat across from the drug dealer and basically took photos of him dealing out of his front door (totty) and he then went to the police with the photos and said, right here is the evidence, do something now!

He helped his son kick his habit and spend years helping others do the same.

Sometimes, you just have to stand up for yourself and your family.

To me he is an inspiration.

[simon knight]

Hi Doug and Ladder Garder,

Maybe the word "thick" was a bit strong and I apologise.

However; whilst I think that licences are a great idea if it will keep the non-declarers and dole cheats out of our industry I seriously feel that we genuine window cleaners pay enough tax as it is and don't need to be burdened with yet another. So yes, licences for all of the UK but:

1. They're free to window cleaners who are registered as tax payers.
2. They are properly enforced in much the same way as car tax evasion is enforced.

When these two caveats are met I'll be sooo pro licensing it'll be untrue!

Cheers

S

[gerard mcmanus]

Simon I agree with your post, but I don’t think anything will completely eradicate dole monkeys or thugs, just look at the resource and money the police have and they don’t eliminate crime, but do make a great difference.

If they could do it free great, but even if it was just the cost of a crb, no more than £25/30 and an admin fee, I would be happy with that, but the councils do make a bit if cash for these licences especially in some asking ridiculous amounts of money which I don’t agree with.

And also more enforcement is needed.

[DASERVICES]

Simon,

No probs, we all face the same problems in this industry and it does need sorting out but will take time as we ( SLWCN ) have to follow proceedures etc.. before we complain to the top heads.

The key to this is public education. I for one do not think the Councils have the knowledge to tackle this hence the SLWCN will now take the lead. But I must emphasize this will be for the benefit of SLWCN members , that's what they are paying members fees for.

Cheers

Doug

[gerard mcmanus]

doug can you give anymore info on the point of taking the lead and what resources exactly are available, i am interested.

Also it this new for the membership fee? or has it always been like that?

[simon knight]

Sure, but in the mean time you're paying £100, £120, £130 ? per region per annum for...well... not a lot really!

All the regional councils are doing is raking in this money for doing precisely nowt... other than issue a certificate.

I operate across 5 london post codes: sw15, sw13, sw14, tw9 and very occasionally sw2.  Assuming £120ish per region that's £600 pa...and sure as eggs is eggs this will rise annually.

I seriously don't think I lose £600 a year to the dole-monkeys!  

[simon knight]

Further:

In fact licensing will actually help the benefit merchants: We as licence-paying registered-window-cleaners paying £600ish a year will have to reflect this additional cost in our pricing, whereas Mr "Licence-what-effing-licence?" won't...thus he'll be that much cheaper!

Sorry to rant on...even I'm getting bored with my posts now. :

[DASERVICES]

doug can you give anymore info on the point of taking the lead and what resources exactly are available, i am interested.

Also it this new for the membership fee? or has it always been like that?

SLWCN membership is £35 per year. From those funds we will run advertising campaigns in local newspapers and this will be done on a yearly basis.

It is to draw peoples attention only to use licensed window cleaners and to direct them to the SLWCN site where they can view ALL window cleaners licensed by Councils. This will include trading name etc.. so you can clearly view if Mitie etc.. is licensed or not.

Stirling Council are the first to implement this and am working with other Councils. We are also working with HSE to provide free training courses on ladder use as well as this the SLWCN will promote the benefits of WFP to the public.

There are loads of over things going on but I must stress it will take time to see the benefits in place and who knows the licensing function could be sub-contracted to the SLWCN and run more effectively.

Put it this way if run correctly then £200 on licence fees will be a snip in the ocean.

Doug

[jouk45]

well it works great for me, i have had loads of work from the SLWCN find a window cleaner, customers are taking the license seriously, it is mostly the criminal check that custys look out for now, take a look at robinson solutions blog, you see it all the time, bogus w/c robs house,  man pretends to be w/c robs oap and on and on, doug £200 that is a snip, i cant wait to join

[mileslake]

Can't we just set up a special Scottish forum. You seem to have a lot of problems up there

[Col]

Can't we just set up a special Scottish forum. You seem to have a lot of problems up there

Can't we just put this to bed Doug and realise that a parochial law licensing window cleaners will not work.
If we were painters ,plumbers,electricians,plasterers or just some polish in to polish we would not have to present credentials to cross the threshold.
We work on trust and a good job done as all the above do,the vast majority of my clients come recommended from others but having a piece of paper from the council has never helped or hindered me in any way.
Good luck with your campaign and if it ever becomes compulsory  i will hold my hands up to stealing that apple from the tree next door.
 

[gerard mcmanus]

I think that the public generally dont know about window cleaner needing licences and insurance but big companies do, I recently aquired a £100+ contract and the first thing they ask for was if I was licenced and insured, I sent them my qoute with copies of all my docs, risk assesments and references some of my comercial customers, and got the job. 

So I do think it helps, and I would say that there is probablly less problems in scotland than england, as far as brew boys go because of the eforts from the likes of doug.

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

Can't we just set up a special Scottish forum. You seem to have a lot of problems up there

Can't we just put this to bed Doug and realise that a parochial law licensing window cleaners will not work.
If we were painters ,plumbers,electricians,plasterers or just some polish in to polish we would not have to present credentials to cross the threshold.
We work on trust and a good job done as all the above do,the vast majority of my clients come recommended from others but having a piece of paper from the council has never helped or hindered me in any way.
Good luck with your campaign and if it ever becomes compulsory  i will hold my hands up to stealing that apple from the tree next door.
 

i think your opinion will change if it did indeed become law where you are, once it gets to the stage where only licensed window cleaners get the top commercial jobs etc then i reckon you will be 1st in the queue as you will want to win these contracts, and i reckon once you start paying for YOUR license you will be slightly miffed that unlicensed window cleaners are taking YOUR work.

i know there is another post on here on the subject of licenses for ENGLAND and my take on it is, that if the license does become law there i reckon westminster would be a lot more succesful in bringing in enforcement laws than up here in the scottish parly, in fact i hope it does come into effect in england ( a national license around 200 quid per year is fair) if it did then surely the scottish Parliament would have to start enforcing it up here so as to not appear weaker than their english counterparts.