Explorer licence

[Kieron G]

Hi, i've renewed my 30 day explorer licence on line and received a confirmation email to keep / print off, but unlike the last few years there is no longer a page to display on each side of the boat with details and the 30 boxes to date as used. Spoke to a member of staff at crt today and apparently there is no longer anything to display on the the boat and i keep a diary of the days used to be produced if required. When i questioned this stating that even with the previous system i had been reported for being unlicenced I was informed that i could display a copy of my confirmation. The reason for this post is not to complain about crt, the girl was polite and helpful but just to make members aware that if in future they come across a boat not displaying a licence ( like mine ) it doesn't necessarily mean that the boat is unlicenced. Thanks.

[OldGoat]

Hi, i've renewed my 30 day explorer licence on line and received a confirmation email to keep / print off, but unlike the last few years there is no longer a page to display on each side of the boat with details and the 30 boxes to date as used. Spoke to a member of staff at crt today and apparently there is no longer anything to display on the the boat and i keep a diary of the days used to be produced if required. When i questioned this stating that even with the previous system i had been reported for being unlicenced I was informed that i could display a copy of my confirmation. The reason for this post is not to complain about crt, the girl was polite and helpful but just to make members aware that if in future they come across a boat not displaying a licence ( like mine ) it doesn't necessarily mean that the boat is unlicenced. Thanks.

 

That seems totally daft.

Some years ago BW were going to drop the Explorer licence as they said there was not much interest in it. After doing some analysis for them I managed to persuade Sally Ash to keep it as - rather than making no contribution it amounted to some 60% of STL incomes..

So I have a vested interest in keeping it going - 'specially as it's the only practical way for me to visit the canals.

 

Last year to my chagrin I got ticketed in Coventry basin for not keeping the calendar updated - so it's a way of seeing if you're likely to overstay / abuse the system....

 

Edit:

I tried to get some logic out of this so rang Craft Licencing. Not a lot of use as it's difficult to get 'above' whoever answers the phone.

From the short conversation I gather that the main system has been changed and mebe somebody decided not to spend money on the software mod: to include the form generation (perhaps they don't use MS Word anymore).

What I found facile was that the young lady said 'oh well the lock keeper will check you on entry' and 'the mobile officers will ask to see your notes as you progress' and 'they'll see your index number'

What lock keepers???

What mobile officers - I'm cruising all day and not likely to stop (or even able to) if some bloke shouts from the bank.

Index number?? - I'm a VISITOR, I don't have an index number. That former is part of the T's & C's of the licence....

 

Looks like some idiot desk bound wallah making decisions without having a clue what boating is about.

Edited July 23, 2015 by OldGoat

[Kieron G]

The explorer licence works really well for me and although a printed off sheet of A4 with a 30 day chart blue tacked to the inside of the window might not look very official it was better than this. I think there will be a lot of phone calls to report 'unlicenced boats'.

[shipsbiscuit]

I think this may indeed be a case of the current website being not as good as its predecessor.

 

When I've purchased a BW/C&RT short term/visitor licence on-line in the past, I got a nice ready-formatted PDF with the licence details and even a picture of a bridge and a bullrush, which I proudly printed out and stuck in my windows.

 

When I bought one last month, all I got was a final web page with a summary of the licence and an e-mail receipt that said "keep a copy of this confirmation as proof of licence".

 

I printed out the web page and took it with me but didn't bother sticking it on the boat.

 

Not that anyone, lock keeper, "mobile officer" or otherwise, seemed to care.

[OldGoat]

Many years ago when we first ventured off the Thames - BW issued a book of blank tickets which you were supposed to put in a window each day. I can't remember whether there was a form to display as well. Because there was no easy way to fix either of them, nobody bothered.

Having persuaded Ms Ash to keep the explorer license and provided her with a mock up of the form that was eventually provided, I feel disappointed that it only lasted 4 (?) years - but times move on. After all we don't have to display a license on our cars????

[shipsbiscuit]

.... After all we don't have to display a license on our cars???? ...

 

Yes but I'm not sure I like that change either... my last ever tax disc expires this month and I think cars look odd and unlicensed without one. At least one web firm has sprung up selling replica tax discs for people who'd rather have one than not though I'm not sure I'm that upset about it and will just have to get used to it.

 

And the removal of paper tax discs is possible because of a long established central database and an extensive automatic number plate recognition camera network which means it is arguably no longer needed. It's not the same as placing every boater visiting C&RT waters on a short term licence in a position where they may have to justify their existence to passing inspectors, official or otherwise, on an ad-hoc basis. I'm sure it's not a big part of C&RT's business overall but it shouldn't be too hard to provide an official looking bit of paper or file to printout to people who've paid for a licence just as a basic bit of customer service.

[Alan Saunders]

The EA, Thames have always had a simple visitor licence system. The boat is issued with a temporary index number like 'V1345' that is hand-written with a large felt-tip pen - no computer or printer required. I can easily falsify any licence evidence that can be printed on a computer printer so a hand written version should be just as acceptable. An A4 sheet is much too large to display in a porthole.

 

Even the DVLA online system is less than adequate. Fearing that I would forget to renew my car tax (VED) or not have internet access, I tried to renew it today.

'Your renewal will be effective from 1st July. Are you aware that your current licence expires on 1st September?'

Why cannot I renew my VED in advance assuming that the expiry date of MOT and insurance is beyond the expiry date of the VED?

 

Government institutions, including CRT, pay huge fees to IT contractors who employ fresh out of college programmers who fail to conduct a proper analysis and provide a minimum (BASIC?) solution no better than most of us (including Bill Gates) could have knocked out in an afternoon when we were 'know-it all' teenagers.

 

The ladies in the Leeds CRT Licensing team are superb; they maintain their good humour despite having to cope with inadequate IT systems.

 

Alan

[1st ade]

 

Government institutions, including CRT, pay huge fees to IT contractors who employ fresh out of college programmers who fail to conduct a proper analysis and provide a minimum (BASIC?) solution no better than most of us (including Bill Gates) could have knocked out in an afternoon when we were 'know-it all' teenagers.

 

Alan

 

Greenie for that (and I work in Government IT!)