DaveG

There are now 20,000 Poles in Peterborough, just under a third of the population.

That's because: "Bosses are hiring Eastern Europeans ahead of Britons because they work harder. A study for a Government quango found the newcomers were perceived as more dedicated and diligent. Polish workers, in particular, are valued so highly that those from countries such as Romania or the Czech Republic are now posing as Poles to win jobs". ....or so says the Daily Mail, so it must be true.

My sneaking suspicion is that not long after the "dowry" is transferred to C&RT, there will be a management buyout of BWML accompanied by some spurious spin about why this is a "good thing". Usual culprits in the top jobs, I suspect.

A lot of what is being said here seems to be borne out in my local community. In a similar manner to the NHS, many of the Social Security/Benefit reforms are being implemented even though the appropriate legislation has not been passed. The Jobcentre in nearby Corby is already implementing the "90 minute" rule, which means someone from here has to apply for jobs as far afield as Ipswich, London, Wolverhampton and Derby, which may well be minimum wage jobs involving a 200 mile per day round trip. At the same time the Leader of the county council has claimed £51,000 in expenses over the last 12 months stating it is unreasonable to expect anyone to drive 20 miles to work and fund it themselves. It is this double standard rather than the economic state itself which angers people, certainly around here where the only jobs which seem to be being created are in petrol stations and fast food outlets. The list of MPs who claim taxpayer funded cash to buy second homes when they already have a first home which is easily commutable to Whitehall does not make happy reading. Frances Maude's first and second homes are in the same appartment block! Two of Corby's employment agencies will only take Eastern Europeans onto their books....which is ironic considering that Ladyline, one of the major employers here, recently moved a great chunk of its luxury boat building manufacturing to Poland.

I guess it's going to be a case of whether you can satisfy your Jobcentre's increasingly stringent rules of what qualifies for "actively seeking work" whilst at the same time meeting the Continuous Cruiser guidelines. As Carlt says, Jobcentres appear to interpret the rules differently, but given the focus benefits are currently receiving from the DWP it is likely the "rules" will become more stringent and less open to "blurring". In reality, you won't know until you approach the Jobcentre. Good luck

I know going through March last year could be a bit like running the gauntlet. There used to be a group of about a dozen E European lads hanging around on the mooring just west of the town bridge - they weren't averse to trying to jump onto any boat that passed close enough and a few times we had cans and stones chucked at us, though later in the year these lads seemed to disappear. Fenland is a huge employer of E European labour but, of course, once the seasonal work dries up many are left twiddling their thumbs.

Personally, I would rather have a bit of grass on the side of my boat than the current practise of immaculately mowing and grooming the towpath but leaving a band of weeds six feet high immediately adjacent to the water. Even so, I would suggest BW have a duty of care towards their customers. Some of the maintenance crews we pass are great and pause their strimmers as you go by, others just carry on hell for leather spraying muck and stones everywhere.

Date, time and location please! Can we bring cameras?

It would seem that's exactly what has happened.

This is now being liberally bandied about by McMaster to hide the fact they cannot get connected to the National Grid. However, I have received the following from Catherine Camp, the clerk to the council: There is no planning permission to construct a wind and solar electricity generating plant. This would require planning consent, and I have spoken to Daventry District Planning Department who say that there has been no pre-planning discussions about it either. The Marina was granted planning permission on Appeal (ref APP/Y2810/A/09/2100581) on 11th September 2009. The application was for an 108 berth non-residential marina and no one can live on a boat at the marina for more than 72 hrs in any one week. I attach the appeal document for your information see point 14. Happy Days

Why am I beginning to think that Rugby is the Hades of boating?? I think part of the problem is that many marinas, the newer ones in particular, are owned by people who do not have a customer-service background, for example farmers/landowners who see boaters as an easier option and faster buck than farming. The concept of a "customer" is clearly something quite alien. If they were competing in any other business environment they would probably go out of business pretty quickly. We boaters do tend to be a rather compliant lot, but I guess for the majority a marina is nothing more than a long-stay car park. So far in my boating career I've been in four marinas and can honestly say there was only one of them which genuinely put the customer first. In the first marina I was at several years ago I was summoned to the "headmistresses office" one morning because the people on the boat next to me had complained about my children running up and down the pontoon making a racket and the volume at which I had the TV on. Fine, except I don't have any children and didn't have a TV at the time, either. Rather than admitting her mistake, the "headmistress" told me "you have been warned"!!

Please read the full blog - the narrative combined with the date and time stamps on their "blog" indicate they visited the marina before they wrote the "what luxury!" entry. They also shrug off (and in some cases have deleted) the adverse comments. Maybe I have high expectations, but one would not expect a "committed Christian" (their words) to publish and link to something so blatantly untrue as the Barby facilities.

Hopefully you are right, but most marinas seem to operate under the same cloned Terms and Conditions and, in reality, despite a current slight surplus of moorings the prices in marinas have not really dropped. BW claim that the number of boats on the canals is still increasing and these have to be moored somewhere. Given that there has been no increase in online mooring sites, these boats (CCers aside) can only go into marinas. Given many of the comments written about marinas on various threads on this forum, I'm not convinced that demand has yet dropped sufficiently for marinas to really start competing on service and price and, more importantly, (with a handful of exceptions) accept that the customer is someone to be valued.

Unfortunately this is now like an internet "worm" so the chances of getting these claims out of circulation is minimal. There is one "blog", for instance, the writers of which claim to be "committed Christians" which is carrying a testimonial and an advertising link for Barby, written just 6 days ago, as follows: "One of the delights of living on a boat is that you can move from one area to another with very little effort. After getting iced in last winter at Thrupp (not that the residents of Thrupp aren’t delightful ) we thought we would moor up in a marina this year. After examining some possibilities we chose Barby Moorings near Rugby. This is a a new marina development on the Oxford canal 2 miles from Hillmorton locks and just 5 miles from Braunston Junction. The owners have an innovative approach with plans for a Solar Farm and a Wind Turbine to supply the site’s electricity and a whole range of other amenities are to be added in the coming months. There are some bankside moorings with little gardens and others on prefabricated pontoons, each mooring is fully serviced with electrical power, water, wired internet and digital ready TV aerial socket. What luxury!" I accept that my next statement will upset some people, but why would someone professing to be a "committed Christian" write a testimonial like this which is clearly yet another fabrication?? What luxury ??? For goodness sake!! Furthermore, the writer of this nonsense claims to have visited Barby!! If so, why would they write what is clearly an advertising puff for this muddy puddle? Truly decent and trusting people have been lied to and have lost money to this company. To read this rubbish simply rubs salt further into the wound. My partner, who genuinely is a "committed Christian", could not believe the utter tosh written in this blog. Disgraceful!

Ultimately, these restrictive practises exist because consumers put up with them.

I think you will find in the marina's Ts & Cs they will take a commission from you if you sell privately or through another broker.

Yes, I'm sure...just as they were "arriving next week" in April, June and August!! Last time I was there in September Mr McMasters teenaged son was trying to make them up on the bank.

On the subject of electrical supply, this from the CAB and Ofgem: All electricity suppliers must have a licence from the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). One of the licence conditions is that an electricity supplier must produce codes of practice on:- procedures for complaints payment of bills, arrangements for dealing with arrears and prepayment meters site access procedures energy efficiency advice services for older, disabled and chronically sick people. Pardon my scpeticism, but I doubt McMaster has such a licence and I doubt his installations would meet any legislative safety regulations.

I believe anyone now trying to cancel their reservation and get their deposit back is being held to a "13 week notice" rule in the "regulations", so as well as not getting your money back you get a further invoice on top of the £400 deposit you have already paid to take you up to 13 weeks. The cheek of this man knows no bounds. And this has also appeared in the "regulations": "4. In the event of any failed payment transaction by an Owner to the Company, a fee of £50 will be levied for each instance" I wonder if he will be sending i love my narrowboat £50 compensation for the cheque he gave her which then bounced?? Sebrof - whilst I understand your defence of the laws and principles of limited companies, this (and the other threads on this forum) has nothing to do with someone acting or running their business lawfully or ethically- this is all about dishonesty and fraud which, I believe, cannot be justified under any circumstances. Where individuals deliberately hide behind the law and continue to profit by doing so they should not be protected.

A friend of mine lost everything in the early 90s when her solicitor "did a runner" with all his clients money, including the proceeds of her house sale. He was never caught and nothing was ever repaid. The Law Society claimed they were in no way responsible as they had struck him off three days before he disappeared.