The Story of my Boat Licence

[Lady M]

In 2020, CRT gave licence holders an extra month on their annual licence following complaints about boating being virtually prohibited during lockdown.

 

One of my boat licences renewed on 1^st March every year so I wasn't due the extra month until 2021.  However, licence fees were due to increase from 1^st April.  Had I accepted the extra month, I would have had to pay for two years' increases in one go and then my annual renewal at the new rates would always happen 11 months sooner.

 

Therefore, I telephoned CRT and asked if I could continue to renew my licence from 1^st March.  They agreed but insisted on giving me a discount of 8.33% to represent the free month I had not claimed.

 

In 2022, my renewal invitation included a discount of 8.33%!  I telephoned CRT and agreed to accept it this time because it would have cost them more to amend my renewal amount invoice.  I was assured that no-one else was receiving a similar repeated discount and that my account would be updated before the next renewal.

 

Unfortunately, my 2023 licence renewal invitation still featured a goodwill discount of 8.33%.  However, I had decided to sell that boat so I only renewed the licence for six months for which I paid the undiscounted fee.  Fortuitously the boat sale concluded on the last day of that licence.  Several weeks after the boat had been sold and a licence taken out by the new owner, I had a call from CRT about the credit on my account!  I accepted the payment and donated it to a different waterways charity.

 

 

[haggis]

We were "caught" by the free months licence too but didn't think to do anything about it :-).  Just moaned a bit to each other

 

Edited January 28 by haggis

[Lady M]

Oh dear. 

 

However, I'm not convinced I was the only person who got a continuing discount as described from CRT - an organisation that regularly 'pleads poverty'.

[Slim]

2 hours ago, haggis said:

We were "caught" by the free months licence too but didn't think to do anything about it :-).  Just moaned a bit to each other

 

As was I. However, over the next year it worked out I saved after which I gave up caring 😇

[Momac]

Why did C&RT give the months free license when they must have been in similar financial difficulties as they are today ?

There was no need for it as Covid was not their fault.

 

As for the discount being repeated it doesn't surprise me .

 

By using a paper method of obtaining a license via a marina a friend managed to get to the end of a license period without paying . By the time C&RT caught up with him his bss had expired . So C&RT refused to take his money even though the bss had been in date throughout the license period. He tried to pay the backdated fee  after the new bss was in place but C&RT had written off the debt.

 

 

[Lady M]

Who knows!  CRT were then several years further away from the grant review.  Covid was not their fault but they did have the benefit of government support for staff wages.