NBW tracks down the miscreants on restricted moorings

I just got a namecheck and photo from Tom Crossley of Narrowboat World.  Thanks, Tom!  That's kind of you.

But I don't understand; you say that Granny is 'going nowhere on restricted moorings', but I thought I'd been pretty good about following the BW guidelines for continuous cruising, moving on every 7-10 days on a genuine voyage, and not just hovering in the area. 

I'm not bridge-hopping; I'm England-hopping.

And I wasn't on restricted moorings - certainly not where he pictured me, near Weston, near Stone, a couple of weeks back.

CCers that were moored at Weston when I arrived were still there when I left, so perhaps you think I need to keep better company.  Except, one of them went out of his way to help me extraordinarily when I had my flat battery, and I'm really grateful.  The waterways need more kind people like him.

Last month BW issued a draft document on proposals to tackle (alleged) miscreants like me.  Sally Ash, BW's boating czar, suggests a £25-a-day surcharge. 

I really like that.  It would be a 'charge', and not a 'fine'.  There's too much law around these days and not enough commerce.

Charging £25/day works out about about £9,125 a year, which I think is quite a reasonable fee for the privilege of mooring where the hell you like.  It's effectively a Club Class.

But as usual, Narrowboat World misses the real story - my licence is still out of date!  I haven't sorted out with BW about my lost boat safety certificate, and they won't direct debit the licence fee until I've got a replacement.

(Sorry for the formatting of the NBW screengrab above, but NBW doesn't like my hi-res screen and I can't link directly to the article concerned.  Tom, your website design really is antedeluvian - sack your webmaster!  Also, please feel free to ask if you want a decent photo of Granny Buttons.  I'll be sure to moor alongside a 24hr mooring sign next time)

Comments

[Dave]

"BW already has the power to levy a £25 per day overstaying charge, but don't oftne do it because they "don't have the resources" to issue the tickets; this is like a local authority saying it doesn't have the resources to pay traffic wardens."

No they don't - point me at something that verifies what you say.

[Bruce Napier]

Can't agree with you Andrew; it's dead easy to get lots of hits/sell lots of papers if you don't mind pandering to the prejudices of xenophobes and bigots. The Sun sells a load more copies than any of the broadsheets, but that's not a reason to respect it.

BTW, couldn't get your link to the BW consultation on mooring regs to download - where did you get it from?

Cheers

Bruce

[Steve]

I do keep an eye on NBW but I do tend to look on them as being on the "Sun" end of the journalism scale - primarily based on their rather paranoid/xenophobic views on uk.rec.waterways

[Martin]

NBW have now amended their article to include mention of out-of-date licence. Now that is taking a liberty......

[Andrew Denny]

I take my hat off to Tom Crossley. He's got four to eight times my readership, so he's obviously doing something right.

And like me, he's doing it on his own, with no outside help. So I don't like to criticise him.

[Andrew Read]

I concur with the other comments. NBW has a history of making remarks about people with no right of reply or comment. Just like a tabloid!

[Bruce Napier]

Narrowboat World is like the Sunday Sport - it's impossible to believe anything you read in there, because you know the editor is not interested in verifying his stories.

BW already has the power to levy a £25 per day overstaying charge, but don't oftne do it because they "don't have the resources" to issue the tickets; this is like a local authority saying it doesn't have the resources to pay traffic wardens.

[Keith]

Why let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I confess to reading Narrowboat World but just feel sympathy for the writers.

Especially when they go on 'holiday' and spend most of their time looking for allegedly unlicensed and over staying boats.

Very sad.