A legal question

[fairplay]

Lot's of interesting points being raised, but am I the only one that thinks it is still a grey area ?

I'm not sure if the police themselves know the law in this respect.
Recently a new posh restaurant opened up not too far away from me and the chef got a free plug in the local newspaper where he put an emphasis on how they seek only the freshest local produce and listed wild fungi as something he was keen on getting a regular supply of.

Alarm bells rang and I had visions of 'new age travellers' (plenty near me) raiding all the best fungi spots and turning up at the back door of the restaurant with fungi to sell to the chef.
In this regard the law is quite clear - it is illegal to collect wild fungi for commercial gain, and here was a chef inviting people to break the law in effect, so I looked up the relevant act, took the newspaper cutting to the local nick and arranged to speak to their wildlife officer. He agreed the wording of the article could be better and he actually did go to the restaurant and pointed out that the article could be interpreted as the chef condoning an illegal act.

The police officer later phoned me up to say that he made a visit and spoke to the chef just to remind him. Good result.

Neil.

[cowshill]

Originally Posted by fairplay

In this regard the law is quite clear - it is illegal to collect wild fungi for commercial gain

Neil, I think this is a bit of an overstatement. Unless I am mistaken, it is perfectly legal to collect wild fungi for commercial gain as long as you are the owner of the property or have the owner's permission. But I agree with you that this offer to purchase might well incite illegal commercial gathering where such permission did not exist.

And let's hope that the chef knows his fungi. There have been cases of mass poisonings (but not, as far as I know, fatalities, nor, as far as I know, in Britain) from fungi served in restaurants.

- Jim

[Bofh]

Thank you so much for all the input guys, I have to say I think I've arrived at a knowledgeable and very helpful site.

I've had a little good news in the last day or so, it looks like I have permission to cultivate 5 acres of land pending a site survey and some legal agreements. The site is burred within a woodland and the owner has been trying to re establish the land for quite some time.

So now I'm back to thinking about what other uses I can put the land to whilst waiting for the product to grow.

I'll put up an new post and see if you chaps can come up with any ideas, this thread should stay on topic as it's still a little grey in some areas.

Thanks again for the advice.

[fairplay]

Good luck with your venture Bofh.

I'm not known for my brilliant ideas, but may I suggest you put up a fungi hide on your plot of land, then you can come down first thing in the morning and watch your fungi grow..

Neil.

[Bofh]

Originally Posted by fairplay

Good luck with your venture Bofh.

I'm not known for my brilliant ideas, but may I suggest you put up a fungi hide on your plot of land, then you can come down first thing in the morning and watch your fungi grow..

Neil.

Well living in the woods like a hermit does run in the family Neil I would be quite happy to hide out there for weeks on end.

With a mobile ADSL and a Big solar panel I'd never been seen again