11 Oct 2013 – Police delay issuing Pedlars Certificate
A pedlar John began writing to pedlars.info in June 2012 concerned that police were asking questions not relevant to an application for a pedlars certificate…
18 June 2012 – do i have to say what i am selling also what happens when some new items become available do i have to inform the police of every item ps can you phone me thankyou…
21 June 2012 – i have paid for my new pedlars licence can i trade while i am waiting for it john thankyou…
28 June 2012 – i spoke to you the other week concrening the pedlars licence is their any legisation sayingwhat size off trolley i can use is there any truth i n a meter by meter square please to let me know thankyou john
12 Aug 2012 – hi robert the police want me to sign a form to say what size apparatus I can pull around
replies by pedlars.info 16 Sept 2012:
John
You-v-Barmouth Town Council/Police
Thank you for contacting pedlars.info to assist you in resolving problems related to obtaining a pedlars certificate dating back to June 2012.
Let me clarify my understanding.
This may also assist conversations with your solicitor Nancy.
1 You trade under a Barmouth Town Council concession to provide deck-chairs.
2 Within that concession you have a right to use a static storage pallet.
3 The authorities contention is… that you have no concessionary entitlement to trade in buckets & spades.
4 You use a shop re-stock trolley to display buckets & spades [illustrated below].
5 The concession does not allow goods or the carrying/display apparatus.
6 Council advises that you require a Pedlars Certificate to trade buckets & spades… you have applied.
7 Police will not process your application for a Certificate – the issue for them is scale & proportion of the apparatus.
8 You retain your lawful discretion [Pedlars Act] over what goods & apparatus to use – police do not accept that position.
9 Processing your application has taken undue amount of time and reached an impasse… you seek ‘fair administration’.
10 You have now instructed solicitors to act and requested pedlars.info to provide information.
11 On 8 September we advised:
There was nothing on the Application Form that lawfully requires any further information because Section 3 of the Pedlars Act provides a pedlar with complete discretion to trade any goods.
If asked again you can say “any goods as per the Pedlars Act Section 3 retaining the lawful right to exercise discretion over what goods &/or services suitable for seasonal changes and entrepreneurial opportunities”.
12 On 14 August we advised regarding police request for more information:
ask the police for legal reference to their request… there is none
there is no legislation that requires size declaration
pedlars are free to choose how they trade and what apparatus to use… on a daily basis
you can say that “apparatus used will be of a pedestrian scale and proportion.
13 It appears to us that the local council/police think that particular trolley is oversize and that in obtaining a pedlars certificate you will continue to use same in contravention only of their wishful thinking… you consider this ultra vires.
We have previously informed you that recent statutory legislations in Bournemouth, Manchester established a pedlar apparatus volumetric capacity of 1 cubic metre and in Reading, Leeds, Canterbury & Nottingham the actual maximum trolley measurements are width 0.75m, depth 0.5m,height 1.25m with display (handle included) not exceeding width 0.88m, depth 0.83m, height 1.63m. These latter measures give volumetric capacity of 0.47 cubic metres for the trolley and 1.19 cubic metres for the display.
The actual dimensions of your trolley are 
0.7 x 0.85 x 2m = 0.95 cubic metres so your trolley is comparable in dimension and volume with what legislators have deemed fulfill a pedlars apparatus/means of trading.
14 Your trolley fulfills the current legislative requirements for private Acts outside your particular jurisdiction but this shows the thinking of Parliament. Your trading activities are regulated by the Pedlars Act. Pedlary is “not Street Trading for the purposes of the locally adopted Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act Schedule 4 paragraph 2(a). It appears therefore that the issue is not based on any matter of law but on personal prejudice by particular police officers.
15 Police seek to condition your certificate with a particular trolley size but the Pedlars Act has no provision for qualified endorsement… hence police are acting ultra vires.
I will speak with Nancy today.
Robert
admin
…
On 11 October John met with police and contacted pedlars.info a week later who produced the following communication:
Dear Mr Jones
John [pedlar] – Application for Pedlars Certificate
You will recall that we spoke on 11 October 11.15am and I gave you my email address if you required further clarification about John’s application for a Pedlars Certificate. I did not hear back from you but the applicant telephoned me yesterday very concerned that his application may not be receiving fair administration. He said that you informed him by telephone that the police local policy regarding pedlary changed in August and that you were awaiting further developments in November prior to considering issuing a certificate.
He has asked that I undertake some clarification with you directly and will confirm my authority to act on his behalf if required – please let me know if you require him to verify my authority.
My function as a parliamentary agent and administrator at pedlars.info is to assist both regulators and the regulated.
To this end please provide me copy or a link to the “official policy” to which your discussion with John referred.
Please also provide me with a statement about what “further developments” you expect and/or rely on.
The latter may be referring to the BIS consultation outcome [URN12/605 & 606 on street trading & pedlary] which has been awaited since early this year and the only timetable indications that stakeholders have heard from government is that final policy formulation and report publication awaits a pedlar stakeholder meeting at BIS in November. No dates or agenda have yet been proposed.
John’s concern was logged at pedlars.info in June 2012 when having paid for a Pedlars Certificate Application to be processed he was, and has subsequently been subjected to unnecessary delays and questions initially about what goods he intended to trade, and then followed by scale and proportion of intended apparatus. I discussed with you in some detail why it is that existing legislation [Pedlars Act] provides no limitations on a pedlar’s lawful activity and that local authority street trading regulations [LG(MP)A Schedule 4] have no effect on those trading and acting as a pedlar. No reliance can be made on any other legislation as there is none. I informed you about the evolution of private Acts in other jurisdictions to indicate only that in those jurisdictions pedlary is conditioned, not on what goods may be traded but on scale and proportion of apparatus only, and that John’s proposed apparatus is well within those limits. I also informed you about the government consultation that I have been formally involved with since 2007 and I invited you to email me with any questions that may prevent your completion of the application process and issuance of a Pedlars Certificate.
I do hope that you will provide me with the information requested as pedlars.info may then be in a position to inform its readership of resolution or otherwise of this local concern for fair administration in a pedlar’s certificate application process.
We look forward to your earliest reply.
Yours sincerely