I don’t think that’s correct Sebastian.
Much of the powers the that UK uses to demand GARs comes from Customs & Excise legalisation. Until 18 months ago or so, the entire process was controlled by UK customs (before it was given over to Border Force).
If you have a read of the GAR instruction
you will see that they still are quite involved in the process. The purpose seems to be to check for importation of illegal items rather than for VAT & duty. But even VAT is an issue….you must state on the GAR if your aircraft is in free circulation. Presumably if you say no, they’ll be out with a VAT bill.
Online GAR not free thru AOPA UK ?
Just registered thru the AOPA website which states free GAR use but now GAR is asking that I buy credits @ £3 a pop !
What am I missing ?
OK, figured it out :
- Will not work with Chrome
- Need to acces from AOPA site
- Need to launch the applet
Go back to the AOPA website.
First of all you need to register, then return to the aopa website.
On the GAR Screen, click on the blue words “Free Basic Service”
Then you’ll be prompted for your registered email and password, and you should be able to file from there for free.
Colm
Thanks Colm – figured it out – see above
The free email facility still works and will IMHO work “for ever”.
Maybe, but the online one is a God-sent for those of us not familiar with UK counties.
I used to spend ages trying to figure out which police service I needed to send a GAR to, and even then, some would go missing. (Which is why I got a fax machine and kept copies as proof os sending).
The new system means that that knowledge isn’t required. I fill it online, it it worries about who to send it to. All I need it the confirmation code to prove that I’ve complied with the law. If any police officer claims I didn’t comply with the GAR requirements, then the code is enough to make them go crawling back to their office sheepisly.
The ncu email address achieves the same goal — one address to send it to and your duty is done.
Before Border Force took that over (maybe 2 years ago…around the same time as the online GAR came along) it didn’t. You had to send it seperately to the police force.
Email still suffers from the same problem though…you’ve no way to prove that you’ve sent the email, and to the correct address.
dublinpilot wrote:
Before Border Force took that over (maybe 2 years ago…around the same time as the online GAR came along) it didn’t.
Nothing less relevant than the past 
dublinpilot wrote:
Email still suffers from the same problem though…you’ve no way to prove that you’ve sent the email, and to the correct address.
The way we do it with autorouter and the integrated GAR feature is that we can prove from the SMTP mail log that it was delivered to the NCU server and has gotten a unique mail ID there. I think that really is a very hypothetical issue and already by providing that NCU email feature, the authorities are aware of the limitations of the systems. I have never heard about troubles there and I am sure there aren’t any.
