Broads boat hire firm bans booze after complaints

[Alan de Enfield]

Broads boat hire firm bans booze after complaints - BBC News

 

A boat hire company has banned alcohol on its vessels in a bid to stop anti-social behaviour on The Broads.

Hippersons Boatyard in Beccles, Suffolk said it had to resort to the measure as some guests would become "over-refreshed" while out on the boats.

Director Mary Sparrow said some had been seen urinating off the side of the boats, and some had been rude to staff on their return.

The Broads Authority urged people to take care when on the waterways.

Ms Sparrow, who is also chairperson of Visit the Broads, said there was a "minority" of people who would "come out just because they want to drink on the water all day".

"They take crates of beer with them, they go to the pub, they moor up, they drink all day and they come back drinking more and they are really over-refreshed," she said.

She said they would receive complaints from other guests or phone calls from people who had "seen them along the river with our boat name on it and they've been very unhappy about their behaviour".

 

A boating byelaw states people should not navigate a vessel while under the influence of drink or drugs to such an extent as to be incapable of taking proper control of the vessel.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) proposed last year to grant rangers additional powers, including issuing fixed penalty notices if byelaws were broken.

It said following the consultation, it was considering how the proposals fit with wider Defra policy.

[ditchcrawler]

And do you think it will work.  So a minority of people come on their boats and drink to much so they are banning drinking on their boats.

Edited April 7, 2023 by ditchcrawler
I like adding bits

[Jerra]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

And do you think it will work.

Personally I doubt it.  I also think it could reduce the number of hires taken out, I certainly wouldn't want a holiday where i couldn't relax on board with a glass of something.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Personally I doubt it.  I also think it could reduce the number of hires taken out, I certainly wouldn't want a holiday where i couldn't relax on board with a glass of something.

 

Ditto.

 

Bonkers idea.

[David Mack]

Years ago on the Thames we were moored up a short distance from a hire boat yard and a hire cruiser from the yard moored just behind us, with a couple of 20-something lads on board. Shortly afterwards 4 more lads appeared carrying their kit bags and several crates of beer, climbed on board and the boat set off again. We assumed that they didn't want the hire company to know how many people and how much beer was on board...

[bizzard]

Don't hire motor boats to folk who turn up with crates of booze, hire them traditional sailing cruisers with no engine just sails and a quant pole. the excercise should keep em sober even if they did swill some grog. If they drank whilst under way they're drinks would probably keep spilling anyway. If they have no prior sailing experience all the better, the boat yard staff could just shove em off and they'd probably stick on the opposite bank unable to move and remain in full view of the boatyard for the duration of their hire.

[mrsmelly]

10 hours ago, M_JG said:

 

Ditto.

 

Bonkers idea.

The MD is probably a sandle wearing, vegan member, of the Temperance movement?

[Tracy D'arth]

I have had to go out and evict hirers from the boat and take charge of it because of their behaviour when they have had excess alcohol.

There is enjoying a drink whilst boating and then there are the idiots that just get totally blathered and are a danger to themselves and others.

Its not always men either, the hen party boats can be a nightmare to everyone.  Just to say its not discriminatory. 

[Higgs]

I'd like to know how this rule could stop any boating group visiting the pub on their journey. It's using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. These vessels are not working vessels, but for holiday use, for enjoyment. The hire company would already be handing vessels over to novices. Can't see the rule working.

 

 

[alan_fincher]

12 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

A boat hire company has banned alcohol on its vessels in a bid to stop anti-social behaviour on The Broads.

Hippersons Boatyard in Beccles, Suffolk said it had to resort to the measure as some guests would become "over-refreshed" while out on the boats.

 

 

Fascinating.  I had a great great grandmother who was a Hipperson, and her children were born in Beccles.  I've  not seen the name before in any other connection, but it seems quite likely I am related to the owners of this boatyard.

[arbutus]

Just checked the boatyards website

 

https://www.hippersons.co.uk/dayboats

 

They only hire dayboats 9:15am - 4:30pm so not a big deal for a lot of people. 

[Machpoint005]

3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

The MD is probably a sandle wearing, vegan member, of the Temperance movement?

 

There's nothing wrong with being teetotal ... provided that it's not compulsory.

 

However, it was always a source of wonder to me at our previous marina, that even though the hirers of a day boat presumably had to drive home at the end of the day, they were all "over-refreshed". 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Machpoint005

[magnetman]

I'd look at banning single gender groups rather than the beer. 

Steve at Henley who does day hire boats will refuse single gender parties on the boats. Its a wise move. 

 

I suppose one would need to be careful about discrimination but at the end of the day the boat owner may refuse to let a boat if they wish to. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by magnetman

[Ronaldo47]

In the 1970's I remember some boatyards not accepting bookings from single-sex groups. It was not a problem for our social club, which always had mixed crews.

[Mike Todd]

2 hours ago, magnetman said:

I'd look at banning single gender groups rather than the beer. 

Steve at Henley who does day hire boats will refuse single gender parties on the boats. Its a wise move. 

 

I suppose one would need to be careful about discrimination but at the end of the day the boat owner may refuse to let a boat if they wish to. 

Nothing illegal about discrimination provided it is not based on a protected characteristic. 

[magnetman]

It was the gays I was a bit nervous about. 

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

Nothing illegal about discrimination provided it is not based on a protected characteristic. 

 

It bit like the couple (when C&RT refused to give them a 12 month licence and only issued a 6 month licence due to lack of movement ) who claimed that age was a protected characteristic and because they were "of an age where they still had to work" then the CC movement requirements could not be applied. They only applied to retired people.

 

The Ombudsman threw their claim out.

 

Extract from the Ombudsman's investigation into the complaint  ;

 

On the issue of whether the Trust had discriminated against the complainants because of their age, and the fact that they work, I did not conclude that it had. Under the Equality Act 2010 age is a protected characteristic. However, I could not see that the Trust could be regarded as having discriminated against the complainants on the basis of their age. The complainants said that the discrimination was based on the fact that they still worked, but being employed is not a protected characteristic. I said that given that the Equality Act prohibited discrimination on the basis of age (apart from any exceptions which must be justified) there could be no link between age and being employed, adding that a person above the state pension age, for example, but still in employment, could equally make the same argument.

Having considered all aspects of the complaint, I did not uphold it.

The complainants said that they had a widebeam boat and that it was difficult to find permanent moorings, but I could not regard that as a reason for the Trust to disapply its continuous cruising guidance.

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Alan de Enfield

[Paul C]

Alan you should have said it was a Day Hire firm in the OP, why didn't you? Or did you just C&P? Its kinda clickbaity......

[Puffling]

Banning alcohol is ill advised. If they can't have grog on their boat trips, customers will turn to meth and crack cocaine.

Who wants to see crack pipes and smoke- blackened strips of tinfoil lining the Broads' paths?

 

Everyone knows alcohol is a gateway drug. Let's indulge holidaymakers and keep them from entering further through that frightful gateway 😏

[ditchcrawler]

7 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I have had to go out and evict hirers from the boat and take charge of it because of their behaviour when they have had excess alcohol.

There is enjoying a drink whilst boating and then there are the idiots that just get totally blathered and are a danger to themselves and others.

Its not always men either, the hen party boats can be a nightmare to everyone.  Just to say its not discriminatory. 

I use to work at a camp site with static vans they let out and the girls were always left dirtier than the boys in the end we banned all single sex groups completely.

[Paul C]

'Twas less than a year ago, this happened:

 

 

https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/20159218.stag-party-sink-canal-boat-droitwich-lock/

 

Apparently ABC are still accepting single-sex groups such as stag do's.