GOODBYE CRT........

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

22 minutes ago, MtB said:

So in saving £167 on the licence fee, another boat like yours would have to pay £30 a week in winter?

I’ve paid about £70 a week to leave my smaller and thinner boat while I’m away for 5/6 weeks. 
 

mind it is in a rather salubrious area in the Midlands. 
 

Merry Xmas one and all 

[The Grey Goose]

34 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

It may be a daft question but if you are always on the Thames and not CRT waters why did you buy a Gold Licence. As I don't plan on going on EA waters I have a CRT only licence not a gold one..

Well when I first took the boat on from the previous owner it was just easier to maintain the Gold licence and it is not really until now and going forwards that there was going to be much discernable difference.

I dont write mooring fees into the equation as my style of boating and movement will be the same regardless.

As previously stated I was always happy to contribute to the canal network but going forwards as a non user I cannot justify the forthcoming price increases and penalising surcharges over the next five years.

[Bristolfashion]

4 hours ago, magnetman said:

He's got a sea going boat

Having said that I have seen standard wide bean canal Boats in Ramsgit harbour and also at on the Hamble near Southampton, Tollesbury I am sure there are others. Newhaven. 

There are a couple in Cardiff bay as well.

[TheBiscuits]

1 hour ago, The Grey Goose said:

they might have to rename it Platinum or something like.

 

That's taken, it's the Bridgewater Canal extended stay permit.  It was £1200 a year about 6 years ago, no idea what it costs now, and you still needed a normal boat licence as well!

[Bee]

The point is though that the cost of boating is very much dependant on the grant from central government. The amount that boaters pay and that we all argue about is nothing like the full cost of running the canals. Just think of it as a sort of council tax, the amount we pay in council tax is again dependant on the government grant. And just think of the angling folks, they have to have an EA licence of £30 -£50 a year (and more). ostensibly to keep the water clean and look after the fish (!) The similarity between all three of these examples is that the more we pay to these organisations the less the government pays. It should be viewed as a straightforward tax. The government cuts the grants every year and it costs us (Much) more, The existence of the somewhat despised continuous cruiser, council tax defaulter or angler without an EA licence is never mentioned in the corridors of power but we really ought to point our blunderbusses at the real reasons for our costs and not at each other.

[JungleJames]

6 hours ago, The Grey Goose said:

Well we have been together for 6 long years but today my Decree Absolute came through and I am now with my new partner the EA.

My new licence is nearly £200 cheaper for 2024 meaning that the CRT has just lost my nearly £1700.00 and subsequent years there after.

Having never used CRT waters I was always happy to contribute from my widebeam on The Thames.

Now many narrowboaters may yell good riddance but once us widebeams and other CC ers have gone they will come for the rest of you.

Merry Xmas Richard Parry and a Prosperous New Year.

 

£200.

That it?

So what you are admitting is the Gold license is actually good value, but you won't admit it as you have a new in your bonnet?

[magnetman]

The Gold licence is very bad value for someone who never goes on CRT water. 

 

But if you do its a bargain. 

Somewhere in the CRT documentation they did mention the price for a Gold licence is going to also be rising to avoid the obvious problem of it becoming cheaper than a cc declaration canal licence.

 

 

[The Grey Goose]

18 minutes ago, JungleJames said:

£200.

That it?

So what you are admitting is the Gold license is actually good value, but you won't admit it as you have a new in your bonnet?

Yep £200 this year and substantially more in future years , the rest of your comment makes no sense.

[magnetman]

 

 

Other things which have changed are that the EA patrol Boats are not out so much. I remember when they were out a lot and would breathe down one's neck and ask when one is moving on if one was moored on towpath land. Regardless of land owner they would do it. Not any more. 

 

 

 

 

[Arthur Marshall]

24 minutes ago, JungleJames said:

£200.

That it?

So what you are admitting is the Gold license is actually good value, but you won't admit it as you have a new in your bonnet?

The Gold licence might be good value, but it isn't if it's the wrong one for your usage.

[magnetman]

I want a Palladium licence or even better a Rhodium licence.

 

I often dream of having a rhino horn licence but I would have to get a job.

[JungleJames]

21 minutes ago, The Grey Goose said:

Yep £200 this year and substantially more in future years , the rest of your comment makes no sense.

It does.

The cost is clearly good value. Only £200 more. But you are complaining, no doubt because you have a widebeam.

 

We will ignore the fact you don't utilise it, as clearly that wasn't a problem before.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

I thin k the OP says early in the thread it was specifically to support CRT. But next year the extra cost will become too much. 

Well he could always become a friend and support them that way 

[blackrose]

6 hours ago, The Grey Goose said:

Well we have been together for 6 long years but today my Decree Absolute came through and I am now with my new partner the EA.

My new licence is nearly £200 cheaper for 2024 meaning that the CRT has just lost my nearly £1700.00 and subsequent years there after.

Having never used CRT waters I was always happy to contribute from my widebeam on The Thames.

Now many narrowboaters may yell good riddance but once us widebeams and other CC ers have gone they will come for the rest of you.

Merry Xmas Richard Parry and a Prosperous New Year.

 

 

What took you so long to make the move? I moved my widebeam off CRT waters and onto EA administered rivers about 13 years ago. Apart from anything else you instantly realise rivers are just better than the ditches.

[magnetman]

12 minutes ago, JungleJames said:

It does.

 

I think the other poster was referring to the words in your previous post 'have a new in your bonnet'. 

 

I imagine this means 'a bee'. 

[Arthur Marshall]

17 minutes ago, magnetman said:

I think the other poster was referring to the words in your previous post 'have a new in your bonnet'. 

 

I imagine this means 'a bee'. 

Rivers and canals? Almost certainly a newt.

[magnetman]

Thats a newt one for me. 

I'm not saying its bad - there's certainly newt wrong with it. 

[pearley]

8 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

 

I concur - if we want the canals to survive we're gonna have to pay for them

 

 

The EA will come for their money eventually - they can't run navigation works on zero cash either. 

 

 

Yes.

 

3 years ago they tried to impose a badly thought out licence system based on area plus but the backlash caused them to back down and impose a 4%, 4%, 2% increase for the ensuing 3 years.

 So, they've confirmed that the increase for 2024 will be 2% even though inflation has far outstripped that. In my opinion better to increase fees by a sensible amount for the coming year and again for the next year rather than a swingeing amount for 2025.

[Momac]

9 hours ago, The Grey Goose said:

I've always been under the impression that without a valid licence or BSS your insurance is invalid.

My insurance is  silent in the subject of BSS and License

I would be interested to see the relevant wording from your insurance documents.

 

 

 

 

 

[magnetman]

I've never come across anything in my 3rd party insurance policies and I do read them. 

[MtB]

17 minutes ago, magnetman said:

I've never come across anything in my 3rd party insurance policies and I do read them. 

 

Nor have I, but I don't read them. I only buy insurance because it is mandatory to get a licence. I would self-insure otherwise. 

[magnetman]

Same page on that. I hate unsurance and always will do until the day I am born again. 

 

 

After which time I will continue hating the principle until I die again. 

Ad infinitum. 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

Same page on that. I hate unsurance and always will do until the day I am born again. 

 

 

After which time I will continue hating the principle until I die again. 

Ad infinitum. 

 

I have a sneaking suspicion about 80% of the premia we pay goes on administration, wages, bonuses, shareholder dividends etc. Only a tiny proportion of the premia are needed for actually paying out the claims.

 

So self-insuring is always best if one can cope with the lumpy cashflow. 

 

 

I'm not convinced about the reincarnation though!

 

 

[magnetman]

One wonders how many people ended up with huge bills for unsurance claims before 1995. 

 

I would say a new BMW could be useful if thats what you like. 

 

 

Seems a bit like a scam where you pay for other peoples incompetence. 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

One wonders how many people ended up with huge bills for unsurance claims before 1995. 

 

I would say a new BMW could be useful if thats what you like. 

 

 

Are BMW making narrowboats now then?