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Overstaying at visitor moorings when river on red boards


Dave123

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A purely hypothetical question, have had my journey temporarily halted as the Thames has been on red boards all week and although I am fine moored where I am it has got me wondering what the situation is with some other moorings along the river? Presumably it is fine to stay on these moorings until river conditions become normal? Can landowners force boats to leave? What would happen if there weren't suitable moorings in the reach you were in? Eg much of the upper Thames is just field moorings. Is it ok to move to the nearest lock pontoon until the river goes back down??

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Not really an answer to the Thames but we've been waiting at Shardlow for a few days for the Trent to subside. There are boats here that have been here a week or more.

Left today and now moored at Sawley. Moorings almost full, presumably with boats left in until the owners can get back to them. 

As an aside, there would be more room if boaters closed up the gaps and shared rings.

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2 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

A purely hypothetical question, have had my journey temporarily halted as the Thames has been on red boards all week and although I am fine moored where I am it has got me wondering what the situation is with some other moorings along the river? Presumably it is fine to stay on these moorings until river conditions become normal? Can landowners force boats to leave? What would happen if there weren't suitable moorings in the reach you were in? Eg much of the upper Thames is just field moorings. Is it ok to move to the nearest lock pontoon until the river goes back down??

Land owners can do what they like - but hey - this is The Thames and most folks are jolly nice and understanding. EXCEPT a certain carparking company who have been brought in to - in effect - deter 'continuous moorers' who sit on all of the prime spots. In practice such spots tend to be downstream. For sites that are managed by others (eg Henley Town moorings, SRB moorings) they are likely to be understanding, though they may charge you. It's been quite a long time since the River was on Red Boards that most operators have forgotten what their procedures are. Above Henley there are relatively few landowner payable moorings anyway.

 

 

 

EA are content with you mooring on their sites until that section comes off Red boards and will encourage you so to do. The lockies are a reasonable bunch and want you to be safe. It's only because in the last few years some boaters have abused the facilities, that EA have found it necessary to be more pro-active. 

 

 

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5 hours ago, pearley said:

Not really an answer to the Thames but we've been waiting at Shardlow for a few days for the Trent to subside. There are boats here that have been here a week or more.

Left today and now moored at Sawley. Moorings almost full, presumably with boats left in until the owners can get back to them. 

As an aside, there would be more room if boaters closed up the gaps and shared rings.

How was the Trent flowing?

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This is what i asked the EA a number of years ago and their reply.

 

Q. What happens to mooring charges when red or yellow board are displayed?

A. At our short-stay mooring sites where we operate charges, we suspend them when Yellow 'stream increasing' boards are displayed. Yellow boards advise masters of all boats to seek safe mooring - this is because Red 'strong stream' warnings may be displayed suddenly and without warning. Charges remain suspended during Red boards, but are re-instated when Yellow 'stream decreasing' boards are displayed. During these conditions, we advise masters of powered craft to proceed with caution.

 

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10 hours ago, pearley said:

Not really an answer to the Thames but we've been waiting at Shardlow for a few days for the Trent to subside. There are boats here that have been here a week or more.

Left today and now moored at Sawley. Moorings almost full, presumably with boats left in until the owners can get back to them. 

As an aside, there would be more room if boaters closed up the gaps and shared rings.

Oh I agree. Seems to be a ridiculous reluctance to do the decent thing and share rings. 

We were waiting for the Trent to go down a couple of weeks ago. We waited a few days at Burton on Trent as were worried about arriving at shardlow and finding nowhere to moor. 

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3 hours ago, Paringa said:

This is what i asked the EA a number of years ago and their reply.

 

Q. What happens to mooring charges when red or yellow board are displayed?

 

A. At our short-stay mooring sites where we operate charges, we suspend them when Yellow 'stream increasing' boards are displayed. Yellow boards advise masters of all boats to seek safe mooring - this is because Red 'strong stream' warnings may be displayed suddenly and without warning. Charges remain suspended during Red boards, but are re-instated when Yellow 'stream decreasing' boards are displayed. During these conditions, we advise masters of powered craft to proceed with caution.

 

Makes sense I guess...unless you are unluckily in a reach on stream decreasing but sandwiched between red boards. Eg Lechlade went down to stream decreasing but Buscot onwards had another day at red. Wouldn't be much point leaving Lechlade if the next reach is still red. (And yes I know it's actually a farmers field and he is very understanding...just a hypothetical)

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There should be no problem staying on lock landings when the Thames is red-boarded and properly in flood, as often there is literally nowhere else to go. And they are particularly safe places, with practically no flow in most lock cuts. Most offer a degree of protection against high river levels, some more than others.

 

But be aware that some people on the Thames exercise their right to navigation in all conditions and will wish to use the locks.

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