Wiltshire canal boat family face eviction 'for not moving enough'

[dmr]

2 hours ago, Sir Nibble said:

That's a point. The article says the family are off to Bristol harbour. It would cost a mint to live there wouldn't it?

Bristol long term moorings are quite cheap, in fact great value to live in such a lovely city, so the waiting list is long. Visitor moorings are very expensive and time limited.

 

Passed the boat just now and I reckon there is a lot more to this story, maybe they have secured a long term Bristol mooring and are just giving CRT a sort of two fingers before they leave CRT waters.

 

They are good people in a good boat and sadly the increased enforcement has forced a number of good boaters off the canal (which might or might not be the case here) whilst the bad'uns are willing to brazen it out.

 

...........Dave

[dmr]

49 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

Maybe they are hoping that when they explain the reason for leaving crt waters the nice man will let them stay for free.  

The Bristol Harbour staff are friendly and the Bloke at Nethom Lock is a good bloke but I don't think they do "free". Its very well patrolled. Just spent a week there and note that whenever a new boat arrives a harbourmaster launch arrives within minutes to make sure they are legit.

 

Bristol is great, only sad thing is increasing removal of the steam railway track to build housing and cycleways etc.

 

.................Dave

[peterboat]

3 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

I meant use your imagination.  In general, what sorts of things would, in your opinion, be a reasonable excuse for only moving 17 miles in a year?

 

I'm not trying to catch you out.  I'm just interested?  I know CRT make allowance for illness and mechanical breakdown, so it can't be those.

At most.  On many narrow canals, a comfortable cruising speed is about 2.5mph, slower when passing moored craft.  Anything over 3mph and you're starting to push it a bit.

Same here I have my electric boat which on deep canals uses 50 amps to do 3 MP on the shallow canals I was on last week it was 60-70 amps to achieve a slower speed! same sat nav clear overhead so shallow water slows you down a lot!

[Graham Davis]

3 hours ago, NB Caelmiri said:

Isn't that between the CRT and the boat owner? What I see here is a load of curtain twitchers.

How can we be "curtain twitchers" when this whole thread started from an inaccurate press report?
Me-thinks you are being antagonistic.

[Graham Davis]

2 hours ago, Sir Nibble said:

That's a point. The article says the family are off to Bristol harbour. It would cost a mint to live there wouldn't it?

I wonder if they have arranged a mooring there, or are hoping no-one will notice them?
I can see that ending badly!

[mayalld]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

 

They are good people in a good boat and sadly the increased enforcement has forced a number of good boaters off the canal (which might or might not be the case here) whilst the bad'uns are willing to brazen it out.

 

Good people, in a good boat, who imagine that the rules shouldn't apply to them because it would cost a lot more money to play by the rules.

 

They might complain about gentrification. Others can complain about an overbearing sense of entitlement that says they should be allowed whatever they want, and if they can't afford it, they should be exempted from paying for things.

 

[ditchcrawler]

16 hours ago, nbfiresprite said:

How do you deal with Superman when he wants to change? Thats if he can find one as they are as rare round here.

If he has the combination he can get in the old phone box with the defilibrator 

[Paul C]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

 

They are good people in a good boat and sadly the increased enforcement has forced a number of good boaters off the canal (which might or might not be the case here) whilst the bad'uns are willing to brazen it out.

 

 

4 minutes ago, mayalld said:

Good people, in a good boat, who imagine that the rules shouldn't apply to them because it would cost a lot more money to play by the rules.

 

They might complain about gentrification. Others can complain about an overbearing sense of entitlement that says they should be allowed whatever they want, and if they can't afford it, they should be exempted from paying for things.

 

I'm quite happy to accept dmr's judgement that they're good people; whilst also recognising the situation surrounding their boat/CCing strategy. Its a bit like when a friend gets a speeding ticket. Its a misdemeanour, they may have a moan about "I was only doing 80 on the Motorway", etc etc etc and you might have your own views on speeding or how cars are dangerous, blah blah blah.

 

[carlt]

3 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

.

 

Why this isn't obvious to people like Carlt, I can't imagine.

Because people like Carlt have been hearing the same doom laden predictions since the early 80s and it never happened even when there was little or no regulation. 

[David Schweizer]

3 hours ago, mayalld said:

I believe that the operative word is "new"

 

Yes I can read, but refusal of any new applications for EOG moorings could only be where adjoining landowners do not have Riparian Rights, and my point was that those rights exist over much of the K&A's length.

[Paul C]

2 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

Yes I can read, but refusal of any new applications for EOG moorings could only be where adjoining landowners do not have Riparian Rights, and my point was that those rights exist over much of the K&A's length.

What does "much of" mean? Its a bit vague. Some of? Most of? A fraction of? A small fraction of? Half?

[David Schweizer]

10 minutes ago, Paul C said:

What does "much of" mean? Its a bit vague. Some of? Most of? A fraction of? A small fraction of? Half?

Why do you need to know? It makes no differnce to the point I was making.

[Paul C]

19 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

Why do you need to know? It makes no differnce to the point I was making.

IMHO it makes a HUGE difference. Why be so confrontational? Possibly because its only a small fraction, thus dissolves the point you were making to almost meaningless?

[mrsmelly]

7 hours ago, frangar said:

Why do they deserve any empathy?? They are just making life harder for those who take the time to abide by the rules...and that’s me being polite...if it was down to me they would have been made to move or get off the cut long ago.  

Completely agree. Everything in life has rules and regulations, if you cannot or more likely will not comply then sod off. Pratts like this will be the end of ccing one day and they will be long gone after helping spoil it for others. That boat is worth more than my daughters flat she sold last week so why not move off and live in a static building and comply if you dont want to move, why live on a boat without a mooring.

[mrsmelly]

5 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

 

Probably not, but in fairness to them that may be as much the County Council's fault as theirs. When my friend who was continuosly cruising mainly within Wiltshire, sought to be registered for Council Tax, the Officer stated that their regular residential movement made it too difficult to assess, and told them registration was not neccessary.

 

Edited to add:- David Mack beat me to it

 

 

Years ago we moored in Leicester on the Soar. Not wanting to end up with a large council tax bill after a year or two we went into the council offices to register to pay ct. We were seen and advised that we were not able to pay as we didnt have a residential mooring and we didnt have to pay.

[roland elsdon]

Just boated 10 hrs and 28 miles. I like where ive stopped so Ill give up my mooring and stay here for a year and a half . ( theres a bridge 100 metres away giving  me another 18 months if i go through it) .

i pay council tax anyway in this borough through a flat i rent out so...

[Dave123]

29 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Just boated 10 hrs and 28 miles. I like where ive stopped so Ill give up my mooring and stay here for a year and a half . ( theres a bridge 100 metres away giving  me another 18 months if i go through it) .

i pay council tax anyway in this borough through a flat i rent out so...

Well done! I did 30 miles in a day once?

[frangar]

33 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Just boated 10 hrs and 28 miles. I like where ive stopped so Ill give up my mooring and stay here for a year and a half . ( theres a bridge 100 metres away giving  me another 18 months if i go through it) .

i pay council tax anyway in this borough through a flat i rent out so...

Not just me that thinks the 20 miles you are supposed to do in a year is only really a decent days travel then...

[Alan de Enfield]

25 minutes ago, frangar said:

Not just me that thinks the 20 miles you are supposed to do in a year is only really a decent days travel then...

Again - just don't confuse distance with range.

 

They require a range of 20 miles - this could be achieved by 20 miles every day from the 'bridge to school' for 265 days - it would still be just a 20 mile range.

 

Anyone only managing 20 miles distance per annum are extracting the urine.

 

Slightly different circumstances but we did 3200 miles in 30 days (including 2 days 'rest') when we collected our boat.

[frangar]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Again - just don't confuse distance with range.

 

They require a range of 20 miles - this could be achieved by 20 miles every day from the 'bridge to school' for 265 days - it would still be just a 20 mile range.

 

Anyone only managing 20 miles distance per annum are extracting the urine.

 

Slightly different circumstances but we did 3200 miles in 30 days (including 2 days 'rest') when we collected our boat.

I never usually boat round in circles on the same pound for some odd reason...mainly because I like to travel the system!! I get bored if I’m tied up in the same place for more than a few days...

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, frangar said:

I never usually boat round in circles on the same pound for some odd reason...mainly because I like to travel the system!! I get bored if I’m tied up in the same place for more than a few days...

As do the vast majority of boaters, but those who simply want a 'floating flat' have no interest in boating and just want to buck the system.

[David Schweizer]

3 hours ago, Paul C said:

IMHO it makes a HUGE difference. Why be so confrontational? Possibly because its only a small fraction, thus dissolves the point you were making to almost meaningless?

Adopting an aggressive approach is not really the best way to secure an answer, but as the matter is of such importance to you for you to be so hostile, the answer is more than 50%.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by David Schweizer

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

As do the vast majority of boaters, but those who simply want a 'floating flat' have no interest in boating and just want to buck the system.

With the exception of “bucking the system”, what is wrong with the preference to simply have a “floating flat” and not being interested in boating? Everyone who owns a boat, whether it be for living, for pleasure, for exploring the network, or whatever else has their own reason for being on the water. Who are you or I to determine what reason someone has for being on the water? As long as they’re abiding by the rules, then surely it’s up to them on their interest in boating or otherwise? Although I suspect you’d struggle to find someone who lives aboard to have absolutely no interest whatsoever in boating. There are surely easier ways of living cheaply than getting a boat.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, NB Caelmiri said:

As long as they’re abiding by the rules,

If the reported action by C&RT is correct it would appear they are not.

 

2 minutes ago, NB Caelmiri said:

Although I suspect you’d struggle to find someone who lives aboard to have absolutely no interest whatsoever in boating.

There are several in our marina that have not moved  for many, many, years.

We sold our last NB to someone who kept it in the marina and it was their sole residence.

The engine was not started for four and a half years - until they sold it a couple of weeks ago and went back to a flat.

[Chewbacka]

47 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Again - just don't confuse distance with range.

 

They require a range of 20 miles - this could be achieved by 20 miles every day from the 'bridge to school' for 265 days - it would still be just a 20 mile range.

 

Anyone only managing 20 miles distance per annum are extracting the urine.

 

Slightly different circumstances but we did 3200 miles in 30 days (including 2 days 'rest') when we collected our boat.

Yes, but not travelling along a muddy ditch............