Thames visitor license

[MtB]

Not been on the Thames for years and never needed to buy a visitor license before, AFAICR.

 

Is the procedure to just buy one from the first manned Thames lock encountered? Or is there more to it than that? Do I need to produce any docs e.g. BSS? 

 

Many thanks.

[PaulJ]

Nope. Dont ask you for any of that.

Just length and width to calculate fee and a few questions like engine/loo type, name ,address and contact number.

Edited June 10, 2023 by PaulJ

[MtB]

8 minutes ago, PaulJ said:

Nope. Dont ask you for any of that.

Just length and width to calculate fee and a few questions like engine/loo type, name ,address and contact number.

 

Thanks Paul.

[john6767]

Yes at the first manned lock you just say you need to buy a visitor licence, they take credit cards.  Only complication can be the length, they are basically one day, one week, one month, some will sell you two weeks for example at 2x one week cost, others will not do that.

 

You don’t need to produce any documents, you just fill in a form with your name/address/phone etc, the boat details, index number/name of manufacturer/year of manufacture/length/toilet type (as they don’t allow sea toilets)/home mooring location.  I think that is about it.

 

Enjoy the Thames.

Edited June 10, 2023 by john6767

[GUMPY]

Remember that if it's a one day licence it finishes at midnight the day after. So if you buy it at 10am Tuesday you have until midnight Wednesday to get off the river so almost two days.

[ditchcrawler]

36 minutes ago, PaulJ said:

Nope. Dont ask you for any of that.

Just length and width to calculate fee and a few questions like engine/loo type, name ,address and contact number.

Credit card. They don't take cash

8 minutes ago, GUMPY said:

Remember that if it's a one day licence it finishes at midnight the day after. So if you buy it at 10am Tuesday you have until midnight Wednesday to get off the river so almost two days.

Or start even earlier, I think last time I had done three locks before I saw a lock keeper, he wanted me to go back to the first to buy one, silly man. In the end he just noted I hadn't got one and said buy one on the way back.

[Dog]

Am I right in saying that no two boats can have the same name on the Thames?

It may apply just to boats moored there permanently, or any visiting boats too?

[Tony Brooks]

5 minutes ago, Dog said:

Am I right in saying that no two boats can have the same name on the Thames?

It may apply just to boats moored there permanently, or any visiting boats too?

 

Yes and no. Thames boats yes, but visiting boats are recorded as boat name plus their registration number for their home navigation authority. So officially JennyB listed as JennyB72684. You don't need to alter your boat's name. No idea how they deal with sea boats with no registration number, especially if they are not SSR registered.

[magnetman]

Every visitor registration form has a serial number on it. Every 'V23' window display plate has a different serial number on it. Boat details are hand written on a triplicate by the customer. Serial number from the V23 window plate is written by hand on the registration form by the lock keeper. Serial number on the registration form is written by hand on the window V23 plate by the lock keeper in marker pen along with lock code and expiry date. 

 

Customer gets the middle copy of the registration form which is the actual registration/licence itself. This way alterations would be obvious as it is a duplicate not an original. 

 

The window plate is just so that lock keepers can see it easily and by having the serial numbers tied to the registration form it is not easy to forge or reuse. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by magnetman

[noddyboater]

2 hours ago, Dog said:

Am I right in saying that no two boats can have the same name on the Thames?

It may apply just to boats moored there permanently, or any visiting boats too?

And am I right in thinking that the community of dossers on the Dukes cut require neither a Thames or CRT licence? 

[MtB]

6 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

And am I right in thinking that the community of dossers on the Dukes cut require neither a Thames or CRT licence? 

 

ISTR this exact point being discussed on here a few years ago and yes, that conclusion was reached. Whatever the legalities, neither the EA nor the CRT polices it. 

 

Dunno if that situation persists nowadays though. 

[noddyboater]

17 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

ISTR this exact point being discussed on here a few years ago and yes, that conclusion was reached. Whatever the legalities, neither the EA nor the CRT polices it. 

 

Dunno if that situation persists nowadays though. 

You can't judge a book by it's cover,  but I'd guess it's still the case. 

Think I'll join them next time everything is due.

[john6767]

2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Yes and no. Thames boats yes, but visiting boats are recorded as boat name plus their registration number for their home navigation authority. So officially JennyB listed as JennyB72684. You don't need to alter your boat's name. No idea how they deal with sea boats with no registration number, especially if they are not SSR registered.

I thought that they treated the visitor licence number that you display as the boat name, but however it is technically done, as a boater you don’t need to concern yourself with this at all.  You buy a visitor licence, display said licence and you are done!

[magnetman]

The dukes cut is an interesting one. 

 

The 2010 Environment Agency( inland waterways) Order would need examining closely. 

 

As I understand it if the Thames flows in and out then you must be registered. It may be more complicated than this. 

 

Point with Dukes cut is the River doesn't flow out the other end unlike with for example a mill stream. 

 

It could be a loophole area. 

 

There are plenty of unregistered boats on the River anyway and the EA do not appear to be all that active in this area of enforcement.

 

 

It is rude not to register the boat. My 40x9ft launch was only £760 for this year.

Just over £2 a day really isn't expensive given what a great river it is. 

 

 

[MtB]

17 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

You can't judge a book by it's cover,  but I'd guess it's still the case. 

Think I'll join them next time everything is due.

 

Well I briefly considered this last time I passed through! But it's a bleak, miserable and isolated location to be stuck in forever IIRC. No meaningful towpath, nowhere near any parking, and the neighbours, well. Potential George Wards, all of em, probably!

 

 

[magnetman]

Looks like Dukes cut may be an interesting place under the 1932 Thames Conservancy act to which the 2010 EA order refers. 

 

Presumably it would technically come under the CRT for licensing. 

 

the TC 1932 Act also seems to imply that one can moor beneath a railway bridge and it is not part of the Thames. 

 

 

[Tonka]

2 hours ago, magnetman said:

Looks like Dukes cut may be an interesting place under the 1932 Thames Conservancy act to which the 2010 EA order refers. 

 

Presumably it would technically come under the CRT for licensing. 

 

the TC 1932 Act also seems to imply that one can moor beneath a railway bridge and it is not part of the Thames. 

 

 

Isn't it the same with the Abbey River which flows in just below Chertsey Weir. Boats moor up it and do not need a licence. A few years ago the boats were set adrift and as they floated onto Thames Water the EA caught them for a licence