The petition is doomed to failure due to the way it is worded.
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Allow photographic copies of registers for family research.
At the moment each public record of Birth, Marriage or Death, costs £7, it is faithfully transcribed by hand by the 'Registry office' on special paper. It would foster research and family interest if photocopies or electronic photographs were allowed at a more reasonable cost.”
If one looks at the wording it is simply wrong.
Very few certificates these days are transcriptions, these only occur if the digital copy is illegible.
Certificates are produced from microfilm images that are printed out. These are being phased out and replaced by printouts of digital images of the microfilms.
There is only one way for a registrar including the Registrar General to supply copies and that is as certified copies at the fee set down by law.
The government tried to make changes to this a few years ago but failed due to trying to push the legislation through the back door.
Given the state the present government is in there is no chance at all that the Prime Minister will try to re-introduce that legislation at this present time.
Cheers
Guy
