15/01/2018
Black eye reality training story
As an ex member of the armed forces I used simulation equipment on shooting ranges. Early 2016 I thought of a business idea that would work out great if I could get hold of similar equipment.
Months were spent tracking down all the companies that make such equipment. Some were for live weapons with adpators attached others were plastic weapons that never really had the attraction even though they had the scenarios on the projector screen.
Eventually I found the same company that make the equipment for the army and I started to make enquiries into the prices of it and they were staggering, the kind of prices the government can afford to pay but not the average entrepreneur.
In making the enquiries I made contact with a UK sales rep for the company and he told me to try get hold of an ex police system as they’re sold much cheaper than new systems.
Inset to work trying to find one that could be for sale but had no joy.
I happened to make a call to the sales rep months later about pricing as I had lost the bit of paper it was written on and found out the only system ever sold by the police was up for sale.
Time to try buy it...
I made contact with Aborswift who currently owned the system and ran it as a business called redcon1. I was told they didn’t have time to make a success of it as it was the owners son that ran it and he had just had twins. There were months of hard negotiations to get the price into the region that I could get a loan for.
With the help of X forces I made two business plans and they applied for the loan on my behalf and I was successful in securing the funding.
Once the money had cleared I set to work making things happen, the business needed a registered name and bank account, a website had to be created, page and group, advertising, signage and a lot had to be bought to make the system into a business. all I needed the system and weapons after this. I travelled to England and made the deal. 12 hours later I was home and everything was secured away for the night.
In between all of this I had been contacting Falkirk council to have the business categorised which took some time and eventually it was category 11 for leisure. This meant I had to find a matching property with the same use class as the business or wait 8 weeks to change another property and hold things up.
After constantly searching I finally managed to find a suitable premises. All calls were made to licencing and building standards to make sure everything was in place, at this point no licence was required so I was good to go.
I got to work with friends painting the premises black to suit and set up the equipment. Just my luck the computer wasn’t working and it couldn’t be checked at the previous owners house due to the space needed. This meant calls to America to the experts that make the equipment and they guys were more than happy to help. The software needed a recovery but I needed to do this without wiping the video scenarios. We were successful with this.
Everything was falling into place for the big open day, the police were invited along as it was their law enforcement system, the army recruiting team attended, a bouncy castle company for families and days before it was due to open the police made contact telling me they think I need a licence and no matter how much I argued my case i still had to deal with Falkirk council licencing department who after days made a decision that I needed a public entertainment licence and forced it to fit the laser games category.
I done what I had to do and make the application for the licence. Every day I would call and email to check the progress of this and it was taking ages.
I was allowed to go ahead with the open day but prior to this the weapons were inspected by the police and 4 certificates of deactivation were missing and I couldn’t get hold of them so they weapons were to be locked away and they were.
The open day...
The day was a huge success although the bouncy castle company kept getting hassle when they tried to set up and had to leave early.
At ten o’clock at night I had to ask customers to leave as the day was over but little did I know so was the business.
The police made contact again and were organising a ballistics team to inspect the weapons further to make sure they were up to the 2010 deactivation spec. Most were ok but the missing certificates had to be replaced and the shotgun was taken away after being deemed a section 5 firearm. I spent 3 days trying to find a section 5 registered fi****ms dealer to carry out the rest of the deactivation work it requires. I had no luck as most have given up this licence.
The police fi****ms officer made a comment stating her boss was putting her under pressure to charge me for owning it and I had no choice at this point but to relinquish ownership of it. A weapon worth $8000 now gone.
This left me with making an appointment with the Birmingham gun barrel proof house to have the 3 mp5’s inspected and certificates issued. There were no records found for any of them or the shotgun this was because they arrived into the country after being converted. as a package and only received certificates after repairs were carried out. These ones had never broken so no certificates were issued.
Appointment day at the proof house...
I left with my brother in the early hours of the morning to make my appointment on time which was costing double the usual price for a while you wait service. I was told it’ll be about an hour and to wait in my car. Less than 20 minutes later we were called back in only to be told they aren’t sure if it’s a rumour or written in black and white that the police must hand back the weapons to the proof house when finished with them as per an end of life agreement.
I had to leave there empty handed and furious with the situation. I emailed my American contact about the situation and followed up the document from the department of state that changes them into my name and this must be done with change of ownership. Eventually this was issued.
The home office...
Further down the line after emailing the correct department in the home office I received a reply stating the weapons are of a specially agreed deactivation specification and can only be used if they remain in police or military ownership.
This rendered every one of my weapons illegal. They were already illegal to sell of gift due to a new law that was passed in may 2017 now they were highly illegal and deemed section 5 fi****ms which have a sentence of 5 years in jail.
The business...
At this point the business was now over. Months went by trying to resolve the situation but the money ran out and I could no longer keep the premises. Everything had to be taken away and put into a secure location.
I then had to decide what to do and I issued a complaint to the Thames valley police force professional standards, after two month of emails and sending all my documents initially making a claim directly against the officer who orchestrated the sale it was discovered it was a force decision to sell the system.
This meant the initial claim had to be shut down as there was nothing to persue against the officer directly and the new focus was the police force as a whole.
The solicitor...
A new claim was setup straight away on the 31st of august 2017. 4 and a half months have went by at the time of writing this and there is still no solution. They haven’t admitted liability even though they wouldn’t be on the public market if they had for one matched each weapon with a certificate and secondly went up the chain of command to the home office where they wouldn’t have been given permission to sell any of it in the first place. Not only are the weapons illegal but it’s also believed that the software and technology is protected by the crown and the solicitor has been made aware of this.
Their current position is that the solicitor himself and the police armoury don’t understand why I can’t keep the weapons which is pretty obvious and been explained to them and if it’s found I can’t keep them I may still not have a claim against them for selling the illegal fi****ms as I bought them from Aborswift. My argument would be that Aborswift wouldn’t have had them had they done their job right in the first place and if I sue Aborswift they’re guaranteed to sue the police anyway for causing all of this.
Personal position....
I have a very understanding loan company but they’re patience is running out the longer this drags on. Im left with thousands in debt from setting up and it needs to be repaid. My business calculation for this year was £144000 for 25% capacity and I’ve lost it all and Joe my credit rating is suffering with every month that goes by and this isn’t resolved.
No newspaper will touch the story as the police are at fault.
No solicitor will take on the case especially on a no win no fee basis as there is an element of risk involved.
I will not stop no Matter what I have to do I will make sure I sort out this situation.
Barry Mitchell
Director of Black eye reality training
