GRO Certificates by email

[giraffe]

Re handwritten Certified copies, thanks to Dudley and Celia. I thought it was strange that the parties concerned all seemed to have the same handwriting!
giraffe

[Luzzu]

I know its nice to have the certified copies but when you are sitting in Malta trying to demolish an ancestry brickwall and there are three certificates which were ordered on the 4 September but which haven't arrived because they are most probably stuck in the postal strike, certificates by email suddenly seem very attractive.

May be the postman will bring them tomorrow  .

[Snoosh]

Lots of fairly strong complaints about Royal Mail service, strikes etc...no doubt plenty of justification. But wait, on the GRO website under delivery options there is a list of alternative options for delivery, some of which do not involve Royal Mail. You may have to pay extra for these. Maybe somebody can say if they have had experience of using them!!!
Alternative postal options     
  Special Delivery UK Guaranteed next day delivery
  DHL UK Next day delivery
  Overseas Airsure Royal Mail ensure item leaves on first available flight
  International Signed For Fast tracked to first available flight from UK. Signature required on delivery
 
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[ssjdc]

Those options are quite a bit more expensive, and difficult to swallow unless its an emergency. I was rather hoping email would be a faster and cheaper option, like it seems to be in Scotland.

The last certificate I ordered 11 days ago has still not shown up, and is now 5 days late according to the expected despatch date. Unfortunately this is not the first time I have experienced such postal delays, hence my frustration !

[Nick29]

Those options are quite a bit more expensive, and difficult to swallow unless its an emergency.....

I'm glad you didn't say "life or death" !     

[Snoosh]

A different take on this hot topic....might help any petitioners to Parliament!!! I am not a technical expert, but here I raise the question of what constitutes a certified copy. A search of the web has turned up results like http://www.intertek-fts.com/services/electroniccertificates/ with claims like The ******** electronic certificate combines the high levels of security often associated with bank notes, but in electronic format. The certificate can be sent by email, or even fax, but cannot be falsified.


Although these electronic certificates may relate more to trade than vital events, the principle would seem the same...the need for authentic documentation that can be delivered quickly and securely. Worth thinking about.

[Nick29]

I am not a technical expert, but here I raise the question of what constitutes a certified copy.

The answer to that is on the certificate itself.

The certificate has been certified by the registrar, and carries the seal of the GRO.

The certificate serial number, the paper watermark and the GRO seal are all easily recognisable forms of identifying authenticity which can be done by anyone who is not sight challenged.  The Intertek system requires sophisticated scanning techniques and database access, which are outside the reach of most of us.

[Lesanne]

Just the information on the strip down the middle would surfice for me... 

      Seals, numbers, registrar's signatures etc... doesn't add anything.

[Nick29]

(I'll add this in another post, because there's no way of adding text under a picture.)

There's little point in finding alternative ways of delivering certified documents, because they're all going to be expensive, because it's the certification that costs the money (the certificate costs about 20p to produce).

What potential campaigners should be thinking about is to lobby for a change in the law, which allows the contents of a certificate to be divulged, without the legal requirement of certification.