MichaelG

I suspect the reporter may have misreported this aspect. He can’t be disqualified from driving for something he did on a boat. No road traffic legislation would apply. My guess would be that the dimwit was being dealt with for separate road traffic act matters during the same hearing. Nice to see that he got a custodial sentence, all be it a short one. He must have already had a significant offending history for the Magistrates to hand down a custodial for an offence against property.

At one point in the video she says a neighbouring boater said they had come back several times doing more each time. No mention of whether they had done anything to put them of like filming them or calling The Police.

During my career I often had to search the home addresses of people who had been arrested for burglary. Often they were career burglars responsible for hundreds of burglaries. They would always complain about their personal stuff being rifled through and about officers not putting it all back nice and neat. They genuinely did not appreciate the irony of their complaint.

So presuming the broker is selling on behalf of a vendor they own neither the boat or the paperwork relating to it. How then can they say they are going to retain property that does not belong to them.

Just thought, as you mentioned in your original post VAT exemption. Could the brokers motivation to retain original paperwork relate to their concerns that they may want to be able to show that VAT has been paid previously or is exempt so no VAT is due now. The fraud thing may just be something made up by the employee when put on the spot.

Not sure how on earth them retaining an original bill of sale would serve to prevent such a situation.

As others have already said, this seems bizarre. I purchased my narrow boat via a broker and I got a folder full of documents including the original bill of sale issued to the first owner some 12 years previously. Before that I had purchased four fibreglass cabin cruisers via brokers and not once did they ever suggest they would have to retain any of the boats paperwork. So I don’t imagine it is the “norm”. I’d be interested to hear any update you have once you’ve spoken again to the broker and got a clear explanation from him of his rationale behind wanting to retain paperwork once ownership has passed to you.

A fixed fee of £15 per call out seems reasonable enough. Although they should commit that in writing to their members as well as including it in their website.

I have no issue with paying more as any business has to raise their fees when their costs rise, that is of course inevitable. What I have an issue with is a business telling customers that as of next week the cost to you of using our services will increase but we won’t or can’t tell you by how much. How can anyone make an informed decision on whether or not to sign up to a service if they don’t know how much it will cost them. It’s like an insurance company telling you in the event of a claim you will have to pay an excess but won’t tell you how much. If they were to say the fuel levy will be fixed at £X per call out, no problem, I can then decide whether to stay or go. Also how can a business add fees or conditions mid term of an agreement. Surely a contract was entered into when the membership fee was paid. I agreed to pay X amount, they agreed to provide the cover for 12 months for that fee.

So if the fuel levy was to be based on distance travelled by the mechanic, something that is entirely out of the control of the customer, then the added costs could be significant. RCR really should reconsider and simply increase the membership fees to account for their increased costs.

I think a clearer situation for customers would have been to simply increase the membership prices to cover the increased costs. Adding a vague “fuel levy” to call outs just adds uncertainty for customers as to what they will need to pay in the event of a call out. I’ve had silver membership for four years and never needed to make a call out. If they are going to add an unknown fee then on renewal I may as well drop down to retainer and just pay on an on use basis.

Mine has a 16ah lithium ion battery. It’s the smallest one of the range. Physically it’s about the size of a shoe box.

Hi, I have one of the Jackerys, I think it is the 240 model which is I think the smallest one they do. Cost me about £250. I take Tony’s point about just fitting a battery etc but if your son just wants a little simple neat portable power I think they’re just the ticket. There’s a simple easy to understand display which shows it’s level of charge. Cigarette socket type and USB sockets and a small inverter. It can run my 230v stereo and portable TV. Can be charged from a 230v socket or car cigarette lighter socket. You can also buy a small solar panel to charge it but I haven’t got one of those. I’ve had mine about a year and had no problems with it.

Hi all, just a quick update and a thank you for the advice that assisted me in locating the problem. I found that the negative cable from the battery bank at the inverter terminal was quite corroded causing a poor connection. An hour or so of gentle pursuasion and some WD40 managed to separate the two, luckily without damaging either. A clean up with a wire brush and some vaseline and it's all up and working again. Thanks again for the advice. Regards, Michael.

Many thanks for the suggestion. Regards, Michael.