We accept in almost all aspects of life that undertaking something as a business requires a higher standard, more insurance, licences, permissions, Directors, etc. than doing something for yourself.
MM.
Many years ago I worked as a motorcycle courier and in fact jointly ran the outfit for a while. There was never any shortage of businesses willing to trust us with potentially very important documents and in some cases live human organs. We worked on ordinary motorcycle driving licenses and some, I would suggest, more down market outfits even used young provisional license holders complete with "L" plates. Company owners and directors saw the riders and their machines when they turned up for the pick-up, but we never ever had anyone contact us concerned about the young looking kid with the leather jacket walking off with their prized belonging!
BB.
I welcome your comments and certainly don't take them the wrong way at all. I would never suggest that my actions have always been safe and acceptable. We all know our limits and also know when we have exceeded them. Even though we may deny fault in ourselves to others, most of us know, in the back of our minds that we're fallible and this would include professional pilots as well as private!
I accept absolutely that a free-for-all would lead to many problems, but the point in my posting was to refute the explanation of safety as the driving force in the legislation and replace it with the need to protect the professional side of the industry from the competition of cheaper alternatives. But if you should disagree with me and maintain that it is safety that is in fact the issue, then surely delivering a parcel for reward on a good day from one part of the country to another, would be just as safe as any recreational flight for which a PPL is already licensed by the CAA and would therefore be OK?