Licence blow for old and disabled
The time is
fast approaching when we anglers have to renew our fishing licences and those
of us who find getting to the waterside increasingly difficult are in for a shock.
For a number of year now we have got used to the system whereby those of us who
are pensioners, or blue badge holders, or in receipt of disability living allowences
were able to buy conessionary licences at half the normal price. But now all that
has changed.
It’s true that the most popular licences for the majority of anglers will
only increase by a mere 50p making them £25.
But concessionary licences will go up by a huge amount: a third.
Instead of costing pensioners and incapacitated anglers £12.25, they will
rise to £16.75.
Not so much a financial burden you may think, but remember that the licences do
not permit you to fish anywhere unless you have also obtained permission from
the fishery owner and bought the appropriate permit to do so. Add in the costs
of transport, permits, tackle and bait and it becomes difficult for the least
well-off anglers to afford.
Remember too that the present government is trying hard to prevent working people
from getting wage rises above the pretend rate of inflation, currently supposed
to be around two per cent but really about double that. And is is a government
agency – The Environment Agency – that is imposing these outrageous
increases.
Remember too, that to fish in Scotland you do not have to buy a fishing licence
at all, even to fish for salmon.
I do not advise readers to fish without carrying a licence but it is a sobering
thought when I realise that in several thousand days fishing in my lifetime that
I have only been asked to show my licence on three occasions.
And should you ever ask yourself, as I have often done, just why our yearly licences
are renewable on April 1, rather than January 1 or on the anniversary of the date
when we last bought one, can it possibly be because April 1 is popularly known
as April Fool’s Day?