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District Enforcement Mooring folk


NewCanalBoy

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3 hours ago, Ex Brummie said:

If you comply with the terms and conditions stated on their notice boards, then they are no problem. If you are one who wants to push the boundaries, then you'll have problems.

 

And if said notice boards are missing or hidden? Do you still have to comply?

 

(As what this thread is all about IIRC.)

 

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When I stopped at Reading, Tesco, last summer, mindful of the potential problems, I spent a few minutes and videoed the bankside for a hundred yards each way to provide a safeguard in the event of any enforcement action. 

Doubtless there have been notices, but they would not last long in the attempts of the squatters to monopolise the facility without costs. There were plenty of those who deprive cruising visitors of convenient temporary use for shopping.

 

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18 minutes ago, NewCanalBoy said:

Yes. They got dropped by EA but clearly Reading and Henley are happy to use them still.

Do they though.  In August the Tesco moorings in Reading were rammed with CM’ers so I don’t think there is much enforcement going in there.  Were Henley using DE on the park mooring's, do you know they still are?

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When I moored in T&K marina opposite, the Tesco moorings stretch was rammed with the same CMers for years on end. The boat "Meet on the Ledge" was particularly noticeable. 

 

But to actually visit Tesco and do some shopping, there was always enough space for a boat or two to moor up for an hour, then get on their way. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

 

But to actually visit Tesco and do some shopping, there was always enough space for a boat or two to moor up for an hour, then get on their way. 

 

 

There wasn't when we wanted to go there at the back end of September this year. There was one gap but there was a rope going from boat to another blocking it off. The nice lock keeper at Caversham Lock let us moor on their upper lock landing while we went to Aldi (or was it Lidl?).

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They’re generally as incompetent as the car park grunts I think. 
 

Moored at Hampton Court this year, I knew you had to pay last year so walked almost the length of the pontoon looking for signs, found nothing. Stayed for one night, as we were getting ready to leave, one of the grunts turned up and got angry we hadn’t paid. I pointed out the lack of signs, he moved a bush aside at the far far end of the pontoon to show an A3 sized sign. He couldn’t see the issue in having only one sign, and said they’re expensive. A3 full colour print on foamex is about £9…

 

Argued with him and his one brain cell for a bit, then left with him yelling that I’d get a fine. Nothing yet!

 

Had it last year too on the upper Thames, can’t remember where - but essentially the signs had old info one them - website address for payment on it didn’t exist and the phone line was dead. The parking attendant said I should have googled the company and found the phone number that way. Absolutely not…their responsibility to post correct info. Again, argued with this single cell organism for a bit, no fine came through. 

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15 hours ago, john6767 said:

Do they though.  In August the Tesco moorings in Reading were rammed with CM’ers so I don’t think there is much enforcement going in there.  Were Henley using DE on the park mooring's, do you know they still are?

Yes DE signs on the park moorings.

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Well having just walked past a few boats there seems to be a few that don't trust them !

 

People have made up their own signs/post it notes/scrap paper saying that they have paid.

 

It is a bit weird that you go online to pay and they don't issue you with a receipt (or I didn't see the option to do so). You would of course need a printer to hand as well to print anything off.

 

Best you can do is take a screenshot as proof in case any ody wants to question it.

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I would imagine it's the same as any car park 'Civil penalty notice' and I use those for toilet paper. 

They rely on people just paying up rather than risk a civil court case. I don't know about DE but most of these shysters just send out endless letters threatening you with court action. Eventually they get fed up. I find it best to simply ignore them.

 

If they did by some remote chance take court action they would need demonstrate that the signage was adequate  and you could have seen it. If was hidden under a Bush or not there then you simply have no case to answer and the court will find in your favour. But it will never come to that.

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8 hours ago, NewCanalBoy said:

Well having just walked past a few boats there seems to be a few that don't trust them !

 

People have made up their own signs/post it notes/scrap paper saying that they have paid.

 

It is a bit weird that you go online to pay and they don't issue you with a receipt (or I didn't see the option to do so). You would of course need a printer to hand as well to print anything off.

 

Best you can do is take a screenshot as proof in case any ody wants to question it.

I took a screenshot every time I paid anything to DE when I was in the area earlier this year. On their website, even if you request a receipt you don't get one, hence the screenshot.

A boat that moored in front of us at Henley over the summer and hadn't got round to logging on to pay got visited by DE and fined - can't remember how much. These are council moorings, and lots of councils use DE (e.g. Reading). So they do enforce them, but only if you haven't paid - we had but the people in front hadn't, and it cost them.

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6 minutes ago, Mike55 said:

I took a screenshot every time I paid anything to DE when I was in the area earlier this year. On their website, even if you request a receipt you don't get one, hence the screenshot.

A boat that moored in front of us at Henley over the summer and hadn't got round to logging on to pay got visited by DE and fined - can't remember how much. These are council moorings, and lots of councils use DE (e.g. Reading). So they do enforce them, but only if you haven't paid - we had but the people in front hadn't, and it cost them.

 

So I wonder why DE have so spectacularly failed to nail the long term overstayer problem at Tesco in Reading.

 

 

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8 hours ago, jonathanA said:

 

If they did by some remote chance take court action they would need demonstrate that the signage was adequate  and you could have seen it. If was hidden under a Bush or not there then you simply have no case to answer and the court will find in your favour.

But equally if they turn up in court with photographs of clear and obvious signs, you have to prove they were not in place at the time you moored. And proving their absence could be more difficult.

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19 minutes ago, David Mack said:

But equally if they turn up in court with photographs of clear and obvious signs, you have to prove they were not in place at the time you moored. And proving their absence could be more difficult.

 

Good point. 

 

Maybe making the sign(s) obscured and hard to see is a deliberate strategy. 

 

 

 

Edited by MtB
Finesse a point.
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In a car park I used recently the sign displaying the Ts and Cs was placed on a pole about 10 feet above ground level. Made it easy to see the sign from across the car park, but difficult to actually read the smaller text even when standing beneath it. Made me wonder what size the font would have to be to be legible to someone whose eyesight only just met the driving test standard. If the actual text was smaller would that make the terms unenforceable?

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15 hours ago, David Mack said:

But equally if they turn up in court with photographs of clear and obvious signs, you have to prove they were not in place at the time you moored. And proving their absence could be more difficult.

Yeah but turning up with photos from yesterday doesn't prove they were or we're not there either.  Civil case so level of proof is lower. The car park operators or in this case DE won't want go to court unless they are confident of a win. So if you have photos of the obscured sign or a witness then the operator will most likely back down. 

14 hours ago, David Mack said:

In a car park I used recently the sign displaying the Ts and Cs was placed on a pole about 10 feet above ground level. Made it easy to see the sign from across the car park, but difficult to actually read the smaller text even when standing beneath it. Made me wonder what size the font would have to be to be legible to someone whose eyesight only just met the driving test standard. If the actual text was smaller would that make the terms unenforceable?

Yes

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On 30/10/2022 at 20:33, MtB said:

 

So I wonder why DE have so spectacularly failed to nail the long term overstayer problem at Tesco in Reading.

 

 

The owners of those boats are untraceable due to the boats being unregistered or unlicensed, so there is nowhere to send the penalty notices to.

DE have no powers to do anything about this.

 

Keith

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15 hours ago, Steilsteven said:

The owners of those boats are untraceable due to the boats being unregistered or unlicensed, so there is nowhere to send the penalty notices to.

DE have no powers to do anything about this.

 

Keith

Do the EA have powers to remove unregistered or unlicensed boats? 

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