pillingslock

This point is two x 7.2kwh type 2 sockets, fitted by Rolec Services. Two Clients with Mitsubishi PHEV's have used the charge points so far.

You're incorrect on this occasion Matty40s - We have actually installed two x 32amp points.

http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/leatest/8750-pillings-go-green Really nice of NBW to publish this article for us - Many thanks Tom! We have now had our two fast-charge EV points installed by Rolec Services too so we can also now accommodate owners of Electric Vehicles (Visitors or Berth Holders). Regards Paul

The amount of negative Internet Trolls on it have ensured most of my client base steer well clear of it. My clients often tell me what's been said and how childish/petty/awful/incorrect the comments are. The site host does nothing to manage them factually. Anyone intelligent who wants a good deal on a mooring isn't going to ask people on here about whether they should moor at Pilling's or not - my guess is it's just an excuse to start another new thread that slags us off. Have fun guys! As Oscar Wilde said..."There's only one thing worse than being talked about..." PL Though this site was all about Honesty?

Thanks for making these points guys. People seem to miss the facts that in a year when QMP was forced to pay over £41k a year for an NAA/connection on an under occupied Marina, at the same time CRT was renting the 20 Marinas to BWML inclusive of NAA's for just over £38k per marina per year. (£677k was the figure in their annual accounts). This included Limehouse and many vastly profitable southern marina sites. If the marina pays for a connection then the question is why should a boat that is stored on a mooring have to license? and vice versa. New marinas create a home for more potential license payers to CRT at no investment cost to CRT.

Mike, I can say that not only are we totally paid up with our NAA fees, our Corporate tax, Business rates...and everything else are all up to date. WE ensure all our suppliers are paid in a timely manner and we strive to support new and local small businesses with our custom. I would mention all the new services and features that Our Marina provides for people who like to moor with us, or dine with us, or hire boats with us. But the terms of this particular website seem dead against anything actually being promoted. I did mention on our facebook page last year that our new Hire Boat - that sponsors Cancer Research - made a £335 donation, to which Mr Daniel Hutchinson posted on our facebook page "You should have given the money to CRT..." Needless to say we don't need friends who make comments like that. What is your point Mike with all this incorrect information you seem to have? are you just here to spout Bile about everyone else? you are Jealous of someone being more successful than you or what? Fitting many Boilers lately? Hmmm. I imagine not with that attitude. It is people like you who give the Waterways a bad name. This forum could have been a good website but for internet trolls like you who know nothing, but make out you know everything and have nothing positive to say. It's so heart-warming to know that you are blissfully angry with your own version of events about us, at least it keeps you from slagging off someone else whilst we are in the firing line. Good for you! PL

What was it the judge did last time you tried to take us to court eh Dave? Oh yes, she told you you were ridiculous to carry on with your personal vendetta and awarded us £1500 damages (which you offered to pay at £5 per week being a poor pensioner)Fact. Can't believe you're still so wound up about the fact you had to leave us! Never mind, plenty more paces to moor eh?!

Thanks Alan, nice to see the post isn't just being followed by the usual Internet Trolls who keep playing the same scratched record! Some people seem to really like the sound of their own voice...but have very little of use to contribute. I can't imagine why they seem to be so negative all the time? It's awful that people are dying around then world from nasty diseases, people are caught up in warzones and all the Internet Trolls can do is carry on bitching about something that never affected them. #prioritiesinlife

The Action Fraud Line are investigating this matter, ref - NFRC141000786146 on behalf of our client who lost his £47,000 boat. Our client has given permission to share this reference ID to anyone else who needs to report the theft of their property or funds. The telephone number is 0300 123 2040 / actionfraud.police.uk Copies of any documents that were used need to be submitted so ensure you have them handy. Hope this is of help to anyone who needs it.

Saturday 3rd May & Sunday 4th May 2014 is the 17th Loughborough Canal Festival sponsored by the Loughborough Echo and supported by BBC radio Leicester, Charnwood Borough Council, Haines Plant and many others. The event features many Canal Traders, Canalside Entertainment, Craft Stalls, Charity Stalls & Charity Trip Boats, Snacks & Drinks - set along almost a mile of Loughborough's lovely Canal. Admission is completely free and the event gets evermore popular each year. Run by a team of dedicated volunteers it's an event to support if you are in the area. email Jo_Swift@mrn.co.uk http://www.loughboroughcanalandboatfestival.co.uk/ Saturday 3rd May to Monday 5th May 2014 Pilling's Lock Marina launch their 2nd "on the Water weekend where everyone can come and get a free boat trip on one of our fleet of Day-Hire Boats, prospective Boat Owners (or just people wanting to have a look) can see some of the boats we have here for sale plus we have lots of our friendly customers & Staff on-site to talk about Canal Boating. For Kids there is a free Bouncy Castle, plus we have Live Bands on Sunday and Monday Afternoons, with food, drinks & refreshments served in our on-site Bistro Pilling's Boat-House We also have a few exhibitors with arts & crafts stalls too and the Local Fire Brigade are coming to talk about Fire safety on the Sunday. For any further details just email us - pillingslock@btinternet.com, facebook message us, tweet us or call 01509 620990. Both events are just 4 miles apart so it's a great time to come and find out about Canal Boating with plenty to keep everyone entertained! https://www.facebook...filter=upcoming https://fbcdn-sphoto...407630617_n.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/events/1433058396951860/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming Saturday 3rd May to Monday 5th May 2014 Pilling's Lock Marina launch their 2nd "on the Water weekend where everyone can come and get a free boat trip on one of our fleet of Day-Hire Boats, prospective Boat Owners (or just people wanting to have a look) can see some of the boats we have here for sale plus we have lots of our friendly customers & Staff on-site to talk about Canal Boating. For Kids there is a free Bouncy Castle, plus we have Live Bands on Sunday and Monday Afternoons, with food, drinks & refreshments served in our on-site Bistro Pilling's Boat-House We also have a few exhibitors with arts & crafts stalls too and the Local Fire Brigade are coming to talk about Fire safety on the Sunday. For any further details just email us - pillingslock@btinternet.com, facebook message us, tweet us or call 01509 620990. https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1.0-9/284253_10201055632376408_1407630617_n.jpg

This is factually incorrect and Slander. The vessel in question had a Tort Notice on it as there was a marina bill of over £1500 outstanding and the owner went AWOL - we even contacted the Police as we assumed he was dead! The vessel had the drive linkage disabled at our request as we had to protect the vessel from any potential theft (keys were in the house where the owner lived and later missing) and also we had a Tort notice to recover our owed money which was considerable. Redwood Collections dealt with this matter formally. The owner eventually re-appeared and paid his outstanding bill in instalments, but payments were never up to scratch. The owner departed the Marina last week (still owing a few hundred quid) - there was still a Tort notice in place and had an unpaid bill. The owner actually couldn't pay the bill and therefore offered us a used Generator as payment which we accepted as it was better than nothing!!! This person quoting this is damaging the reputations of the businesses involved and any post that refers to this matter incorrectly needs to be removed. Thank you Paul Lillie Director, Pilling's Lock Marina pillingsbackoffice@btconnect.com

It's a good job that what you "think" and what is actually happening are two very different things Mike. If this is your understanding of how business works (and how to make a good impression with people on the waterways) I'd hate to have you try and fix one of our boilers! :-)

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We can clarify any issues & facts about the Marina (& the ex-staff members & ex-customers) if you would care to email us directly at; pillingslock@btinternet.com Kind regards Paul

January, March and July last year were our busiest months for Brokerage, March being 4 times busier than May 2013. Good luck with your sale!

Really appreciate all your comments on this thread and in light of a few criticisms from the "Other" thread, I just wanted to let you know what our policies & views are/were; 1. We were the only marina on the River Soar that was subject to the NAA - 857 other berths weren't so it was a conscious decision, in times where Customers were concerned about pricing, that we didn't say "Here's your mooring fee cost and there's another 9% on top you need to pay to CRT..." as it would put some people off mooring in a marina with a 'surcharge'. 2. It is also difficult coping with full-time licensing requirements whilst again, local off-line marinas can have unlicensed boats moored in their marinas. We have lost many boats who have felt "the pinch" to local off-line marinas on this basis. 3. When the full 100% of 9% NAA fees kicked in at our site, Mercia Marina (585 berths) opened at the same time. We lost almost every customer with a Derbyshire/Yorkshire postcode in the space of 3 months. £60k disappeared from our annual turnover. 4. We started writing to BW in November 2009 saying the business could not afford the full fees. The BMF tried to intervene too but BW did not respond to our requests (specifically Phil Spencer) and his only response was to "Remove empty mooring and they can stop being charged on the NAA". WE said, that to remove them would cost more money, then it would cost money again to re-instate them. The BW Patrol Officer visits us every 6 months to do a Boat License Check - could he not, at that visit, count the empty berths and submit a reduction figure for the next 6 months? it would have taken 30 mins tops to do this each time. Again, BW refused to compromise with what was a logical, temporary solution. 5. We suggested that an interim period could be agreed where the fees were reduced - then reviewed again in 3 years or 5 years with a view to re-instating the full fees or a higher amount.. By now Yelvertoft Marina (160 berths) had also opened and that took £14k a year in moorings from us as soon as it opened. 5.a. £74k a year had been lost to just two new competitors in 2 years and we had to reduce our fees further to be more competitive. 6. it then became apparent in 2010 that the on-line moorings that BW were due to remove were still there - 3 years after they should have been removed. Specifically 7 moorings at Bishops Meadow in Loughborough formed part of the 31 that were planned to go. 7. The March 2012 OLMR Report from CRT did said that although BW/CRT had planned to take off on -line moorings(over 550 in total), in actual fact they couldn't do it as they had promised, because of many issues. No concession was made to any marina on any NAA fees. CRT still had most of it's on-line moorings in place and was also collecting NAA fees from the marina too. All the On-line moorings in our area remained, with the exception of 4 at Lime Kilns in Leicester (an area where you would never dare leave a boat in a million years). 8. By the end of 2012, 5,567 new marina berths had been built and the increase in boat licenses (obtained by C.Cororan from CRT accounts) over the same 5 years was 2,341 new boat licenses bought. Supply had outstripped demand by 3,200 berths. 9. September 2013 Towpath Reports (from CRT data) that 67 boats per month are going continually cruising and do not need a Marina. As a new marina, I know it is our duty to contribute to the costs of maintaining the Canals. I do not expect to be on old agreements that pay nothing and never have. We have always made a regular part-payment to show our best intentions. Other marinas have been much more fortunate that us as they have been more fastidious with their expenditure or have had much bigger development budgets. I know that Mercia got a £500k EMDA grant to help it start, whereas Pilling's Lock got just £10k from the same fund. The NAA as a document does not allow for variance that Market Forces can impose, other than to take out unused berths. And there is no compensation for taking these berths out either - it is all at the expense of the marina operator. The connection to the canal is all built at the expense of the operator. 100% of the Boat License goes to CRT despite the fact that a boat may be a Houseboat (no engine!) and never move from a Marina Basin onto a waterway. I think there is a much better way of doing this and with past experience behind us, I hope that CRT can modify an agreement to match the needs of both CRT AND the Marina Operator. In 2007, We looked to Nigel Sheppard & Phil Spencer at BW as "Experts" in the trade, who would give us good advice and not want us to get into any trouble.We talked through our business plans and figures. NIgel Sheppard even showed me a map of how they planned boat movements from each marina and worked out how much water would be used, therefore there would be a time at which many parts of the canals could not have more marinas built as there would not be enough water. I remember this plan very well - a map with lots of circles drawn on it from all the major marinas on the system. Apparently Nigel Sheppards' map does not exist anymore - this was illustrated probably by the CRT Green Lighting the extra 550 berths & £15m development at Onley Park in 2012 which it is quite likely will decimate Braunston Pound at busy times of the year when everyone decides to go for a cruise. Thankfully this development hasn't been started yet and there is not point starting it until there are some of the issues above addressed. A fixed fee of 9% or 100% of the capacity of Onley could be in excess of £80k per year, so what happens if they open and only 200 customers decide to moor there in the first 5 years? Is that all the fault of the Marina? and if they could survive with 200 boats there instead of 550 then why should there be a "tax" on fresh air? Their VAT will be less, their staffing can be reduced, their Business Rates would be adjusted - but the NAA is a fixed £80k (ish) and would not be adjusted by CRT under the terms we have been inflicted with. It's not just our site that I am thinking of in all these matters - what about the new guys that are as Green as I was? who is looking after them? I don't feel CRT are. If there is an element of risk in building a Marina, what is quite apparent is that none of this risk lies with CRT. Certainly there are hard facts that affect Marina berth occupancy that CRT has chosen not to address. New developers are being welcomed with open arms by CRT. This is quite worrying & I hope that a solution is found as soon as possible.The Inland Marina Investment Guide attracted new developers by the dozen but now CRT claim no liability for any of the info contained in it. Honesty and clarity is what is needed plus a lot more research on the how/what/where and whys of Narrowboat Ownership. We need more customers for the future and all this bickering isn't helping any side at all. But once again I thank the contributors of this thread who are putting some reasonable questions into open. Paul Lillie.

Thanks Athy - we feel this way too. We have made an effort to pay to the tune of £41k over 6 years. CRT haven't offered one penny of 'discount' to take into consideration Market Forces that were not present when we signed the agreement, but became worse and worse as the years followed. No one told us that there would be 3000 new empty marina berths built after we signed and no one could have guessed that so many people were going to exercise their right to Continually Cruise. It was far from our aim to not be able to pay the NAA fees and we started writing to Phil Spencer in 2009 to say we were going to struggle to pay all of the fees but we would carry on trying our best to pay something rather than paying nothing. We understand the Waterways need money to survive and we completely uphold the fact that boats in our marina were subject to 365 day per year licensing too, whereas other marinas not 2 miles away have the facility to "SORN" boats therefore contributing nothing to the CRT pot in many cases. We had a feeling that other marinas pay less than we did - but we were shocked to find out in July 2013 that 10 of our neighbours pay nothing at all. Not a bean! I have been boating in this area since I was 3 years old and I never thought there would be such a huge variance in the difference of what the market needed in 2006/2007 to what the market supports and needs in 2014. We do sincerely hope that the new company involved can enter into a sensible new agreement with CRT as quickly as possible and minimal further fuss can be made. I would also like to thank again the people that have been so supportive to us as a business. It is truly appreciated and testimony to the hard work of all of my team here at Pilling's Lock.

Tom, The NAA was with Quorn Marina Properties Ltd NOT Pilling's Lock Marina Ltd and to answer your question directly, Yes QMP Ltd is going into Liquidation this week. Regards Paul

Thanks for this Paul H. One of the key factors of our disagreement with CRT has been spotted here. There is NOT a level playing field for all marinas and expecting one single new marina to pay £38k Plus VAT per year whilst they (BWML/CRT) have marinas in their own fold that do not pay this much, isn't fair to new businesses. Of the 1,172 Berths within 12 miles of us, it is only the 315 berths at Pilling's Lock that are subject to an NAA. 857 berths have no requirement to pay anything as they are older marinas or situated on EA waters close by. Judging by this figure spotted by Paul H, we are also expected to pay over 10 times what BWML Marinas pay, I'm not sure this is very fair either. I can let everyone know that QMP Ltd has, since March 2008, paid a total of £41,101.01 inc. VAT to BW/CRT. This exceeds the £3,600 per marina per year that BWML pay. (Thats £6,850 per year from us if you haven't got a calculator handy). It is very sad though that negotiations have broken down. I can also tell everyone that the regular monthly payment QMP Ltd was making to CRT was, in the latter months, returned to us as they refused to make any sort of compromise. We never paid nothing - we always tried to pay what we could afford and what we thought was reasonable in the circumstances. It is our aim, now that CRT have revoked the Agreement with QMP Ltd, to start a new set of negotiations that recognise the current market as a whole. CRT, at this very point, unfortunately have more to lose than we do as we have such a huge proportion of Liveaboards & non-cruising boats that having no Agreement means that CRT could also waive goodbye to over £50k a year in Boat License Fees that were previously mandatory on all boats in the marina, but now are not due to the lack of any agreement. Bear in mind last year the total Boat Licenses Paid on boats moored here exceeded an estimated £148k. If some owners, from this point forward, do not license and some only license for 3 or 6 months, CRT's plan of keeping revenues up seems on the face of this to have severely backfired. With the River Soar flooding for many weeks of the year now it's a distinct probability that this happens with almost immediate effect. This lack of Boat Licensing requirement only puts us in exactly the same position as all our neighbouring Marinas too - for many years we have developed our business despite the fact that it costs the Customer much more to keep a boat here. For this I am very grateful to all our customers - past and present - as they have been very supportive and it's like having a large, dependable extended family who are always there when you need them. I cannot thank our customers enough for their loyalty and understanding. This now evident loss of Boat License Revenue is not withstanding the regular payments we were making each month and the fact that as business has been steadily increasing, we were offering to increase these payments as time progressed and shoudl CRT have been a little less hasty there would have come a point in time that the Agreement could have been met. But you cannot find £38k plus VAT in a year when you only make £7k profit (as we did in 2009) nor in a year when you make £22k. That is impossible and there have been a great many market forced affect the performance of marinas - new and old - whilst the CRT Agreement has no facility for variance. Of the £185k judgement obtained by CRT on 6th December 2013, £24k of the sum is legal fees. Before CRT went to court we explained (in writing and face to face) it would probably be a pointless exercise for everyone except their rather pricey lawyers. Suffice to say, between 2007 and 2012 there were over 5,567 new marina berths constructed. Over the same period 2,341 new boat licenses were sold, indicating that the market for moorings was severely thinning and things would become stretching. This figures are CRT figures by the way (from the March 2012 OLMR and the Boat Numbers report). There is a significant move towards Continual Cruising for a great many boats and when this happens many thousands of pounds of sales leave the Marina Market and disappear. In the last two weeks two boats sold here are going off Continual Cruising - a loss of £3,372.75 per year in mooring fees to us - just on two boats! With factors in the market like this significantly affecting the revenues that a marina can generate, any large, fixed costs that a Marina is subject to are going to be tricky to meet. From my personal point of view, I have not fallen out with CRT. I really do want to work towards a solid relationship for the future but there have been difficult times behind us and there are challenging times ahead. There needs to be a firm understanding of what is realistic and unfortunately taking £209,550 plus VAT in the first 6 years, from a new company that is weathering everything I have discussed above, and a global recession, is a little unrealistic. Sadly many waterway businesses have not made it. Some established names in boatbuilding have disappeared (some only temporarily we hope). However, I have no doubt that we will carry on trading (almost) as usual here at Pilling's Lock Marina and, fingers crossed, a new company will be sitting down with CRT shortly to negotiate a new access agreement. Paul Lillie

Dear Forum, here is the response to our berth holders and I'm certain that matters will be resolved in the coming weeks; Dear Berth Holders As an update from yesterdays correspondence I would like to let you know that we have had legal advice on the letter sent to you by Phil Spencer on 16th January 2014. I can confirm that Para. 4 of Mr Spencers Letter stating that our agreements have been terminated , actually means there is no agreement in place. Therefore there is no requirement for Quorn Marina Properties Ltd to disconnect the access to the Canal. I can assure you we will have any other matters resolved over the coming months and again apologise that you have been subjected to a letter that is partly inaccurate and from a very biased perspective. The letter does not detail that any new company stepping into the role of the prior company has the right to a connection to the waterway which cannot be unreasonably withheld, therefore we do not expect any of your services to be affected. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me & if it is after office hours please do feel free to call me on my mobile – 07747 047740. Yours sincerely, Paul Lillie Managing Director Pilling's Lock Marina Ltd Flesh Hovel Lane - Quorn - Leicestershire - LE12 8FE tel - 01509 620990 / fax - 084555 76587

We have a customer with a 25ft Dawncraft & a Stuart Turner twin fitted. the Carb is shot and no one seems to know where to get a new one. If anyone has an idea please email me - pillingslock@btinternet.com

So! Summer is barely here and already the barely 3 month old Pump-Out unit has had a motor burnt out by a stray J-Cloth finding it's way into someone's holding tank, then out again and up into our unit. And as usual, fate saw this timed with the abundance of wet-wipes/moist loo roll/non-disolvable matter clogging up the Chemical Toilet Sluice...solid! So how do we encourange people to be more careful what they flush? It's happens regularly - everything from balls of gaffer tape to plastic bags. Do Boat Owners really think they will go down without causing a problem? Do they really not care about who uses the facilities after them? What can we do to help these people see the errors of their ways?...

Damn! and we were just going to name our Pump-out & Diesel barge "Pumsel".......

Our stretch of navigation does seem to be doing OK, the same as usual - the benefits of being in a river valley I should think, but we do really feel for all you guys around the network that are having problems. If we could send you some water we would! So if anyone fancies the River Soar for a few months we'd love to see you! ;-)