"a person who, without any horse or other beast, travels and trades on foot from town to town carrying to sell or exposing for sale any goods, wares or merchandise or procuring orders for the same, or selling or offering for sale his skill and handicraft".
For further information about this please check out this site it's amazing http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
I am currently renewing my license, having left my winter's residence on 1st May (a great time of year to move on) I have been travelling around a lot and now find myself in Plymouth for 2 weeks whilst I try and get my foot and wrist sorted. It is now time to renew my certificate.
I went to the police station and filled in a very simple form, I took a couple of passport size photos and some photo ID plus another form of ID. I had to pay £12.25 precisely (they do not give change and they cannot accept over the amount, don't ask why). I now await the local Beat Manager to get in contact, he will get a police check done on me and soon enough I will have my certificate renewed.
Street selling is a precious thing to me, i feel very at home and happy whilst pedling my wares. I consider it a very beautiful thing to be able to do something as simple as collecting a piece of wood carving it into a desirable object and selling it to a member of the public on one of our streets. And I am glad to see more and more people are doing it and I do consider it their right to do so. I am not an Anarchist (though sometimes i do lean that way) so i do think it is worth having a certificate, this enables the public to know that we have at least had a police check and that any Pedlar acting beyond the law will have his certificate removed, and anyone in this country can scrape £12.25 together.
Like money Law can be used to enable and empower the individual, the Pedlar's Certificate is a bit of paper that straddles both these concepts, it protects an individuals right to make their way in life unimpeded by the power and impudence of organisations like councils or incomprehensibly large industrial giants like Tesco (such giants overpower ecosystems not just individuals). It does this by enabling an individual to trade with other members of the public in a real 3D space.
Please take the time to think about whether you think it's ok for someone to act as a Pedlar, and if you do think it's ok then help to protect it by talking to others about it.
Hi Barn, nice blog actually...I don't think it's incredibly boring as you mentioned, it's quite relevant and meaningful. Love the idea of having a Pedlars licence, it so makes sense. Do you get shop owners being funny about where you are? How do you choose a good spot?
ReplyDeleteLiz,
p.s if you're in need of accomodation in Leicester or North Shropshire there is space for you and your spoons ;-)
I also love the idea of a pedlar's liscence. I had hoped it would be more ornate, decorative. I sort of get the impression that you put more work into your craft than the legislators did into theirs, but was good to see that I bought my spoons from someone with a liscence to pedal.
ReplyDeleteI'm from the US, and I'm not sure there is such a thing here, perhaps just not so simply done I guess. It sounds like a really good concept though. I found this blog through an image search and I think how you life your life is amazing, to do something you love, travel and not be beholden to some of the hang-ups that the average person is almost forced into is refreshing. You certainly challenged my notion of a "street person" keep up the good work, and if you ever hitch a ride to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I'd be down for meeting up in the park.
ReplyDelete