I don't know about you Ruth but I could not care less about the bit of paper, all I want is the information contained therein I would prefer a scan of the part of the certificate with the details rather than a transcript though Surely its not beyond the wit of man to make the images available for a few pounds each Their excuse has always been that they keep them expensive as it takes a lot of manpower to organise and produce a certificate and also to stop criminal elements from getting them so easily Frankly they failed in the latter case and there is little to support the former part If Scotland can do it so can England & Wales In Scotland it costs roughly £1.40 for a certificate (those you can download) The questions in the survey were all based on paying far to much for the certificates just in different ways , I know I would buy a lot more if they were sensibly priced Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > They were very careful not to mention "transcriptions" - in the questions about the information in > the certificate, as opposed to the copy, you were left to assume/presume that there could be human > error creeping in. > > Ruth

I totally agree Nivard. The Scots example is a very good one. There, you have the option of purchasing a "certified" certificate for £12 or downloading an image of the same thing for about 10% of that cost. However, it must cost much less than the current £12 (Scotland) or £10 (approx. England) to produce the certificates and post them, othewise they'd have done away with that system years ago. If the National Archives can produce an image of a will for £3.50, and the Probate Service for £5 - no matter how long the document - surely the GRO can produce a one page image for less. One thing tho' - any certificate (or image of same) acquired from the GRO of England will be a transcription by the local registrar. If you HAVE to purchase a certificate, much better to go to the local register office and get a copy of the original! Ruth > From: ovington1@sky.com > To: orange.wasps@live.co.uk; irt.seaham@ntlworld.com; dur-nbl@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [DUR-NBL] [ENG-DURHAM] GRO Survey > Date: Tue, 17 May 2011 13:45:40 +0100 > > I don't know about you Ruth but I could not care less about the bit of paper, all I want is the > information contained therein > > I would prefer a scan of the part of the certificate with the details rather than a transcript > though > > Surely its not beyond the wit of man to make the images available for a few pounds each > > Their excuse has always been that they keep them expensive as it takes a lot of manpower to organise > and produce a certificate and also to stop criminal elements from getting them so easily > > Frankly they failed in the latter case and there is little to support the former part > > If Scotland can do it so can England & Wales > > In Scotland it costs roughly £1.40 for a certificate (those you can download) > > The questions in the survey were all based on paying far to much for the certificates just in > different ways , I know I would buy a lot more if they were sensibly priced > > Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) >