2008/10/6 Chris Wood <hot20024 at hotmail.com>:

Following on from being a garantor member you have to be 18. If for instance you are 16 and want to have a contract phone you have to be 18 or have your parents/carers be garantor. This therefore means that you should not allow under 18s to be garantor members as they are not legally responsible should the company go into liquidation.

I'd done a bit of digging and found this out from the government's insolvency website:

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/TechnicalManual/...

"40.25 Debts owed by minors

Under common law, a contract involving a minor is voidable at the minor’s option. Therefore where a debt or debts owed by a minor, i.e. someone under the age of eighteen, are only provable where they are legally enforceable [Note 38]. Debts, which are not legally enforceable against a minor and are therefore not provable, cannot be the basis of a bankruptcy petition [Note 39].

Enforceable debts are those for ‘necessaries’,which are ‘goods suitable to the condition in life of the minor, and to his/her actual requirements at the time of sale and delivery’ [Note 40]. In general, necessaries may include whatever is reasonably required for maintaining his/her particular lifestyle within the normal standards of his/her particular society, depending upon his/her status. In comparison, necessities are essentials required by all for subsistence or survival. Necessaries may include, but are not limited to, food, clothing, medicine, lodging, essential servicesand teaching. "

Based on this, it would appear that if ander 18 joined up and the chapter went bust owing money, the minor could simple opt out of the guarantee.

I've done a search on the internet for this, to see what other CLGs do. , I've found the English Chess Federation, which is a CLG that gets all under 18s to have a parent/guardian to countersign and guarantee the amount: http://www.bcf.org.uk/organisation/general/ecf_direct-mem-application.doc Vesta Rowing Club does the same: http://www.chalfontsports.org.uk/cpsa/sports_club_membership_form.doc

The Chalfont Park Sports Association by contrast is also a CLG that allows U18 members, but they don't put any special requriements on U18 members or require a parental guarantee (http://www.chalfontsports.org.uk/cpsa/sports_club_membership_form.doc)

Hope this has been helpful to the debate.

Regards,

Andrew

P.S. Someone pointed out that my email posts don't come up in the correct "threads" This is because I'm acessing the emails over the internet at http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediauk-l/ and then copying and pasting into my email. I'd rather not have the emails sent here - they would only crowd out my inbox. Hope this doesn't cause too much inconvenience.