CaRT Behaving Badly

[CDS]

How some boaters think that they are entitled to leave junk on the towpath infuriates me

and the same goes for lighting fires also. On the GU south last year we had

Eastern Europeans netting the canal and walking of with carrier bags of fish and barbecuing

them on those portable ones from B&Q.After they had gone the offside was awash with foreign

lager tins and human excrement,disgusting.

[Laurie Booth]

 

My nature walk around Area 51 didn't go that well either.....

Quite bad trying to avoid the nuclear bombs they make there.

[matty40s]

 

Nice to see the boaters have added their own tile to fill the gap at Grafton Regis.☺

[Athy]

Is something written on the tile? There appears to be some writing, but even with the aid of a magnifying glass it is indecipherable.

[matty40s]

It says Or 14 Days If Clear.

[Athy]

It says Or 14 Days If Clear.

Makes sense. I thought for a moment that it was going to be something subversive!

[PaulG]

We're back to the old "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario.

 

CRT mark out the official winter moorings so that their enforcement teams don't hassle legitimately moored boaters, and apparently that's wrong?

 

OTOH wait for the bleating when someone gets ticketed when moored legitimately.....

 

Edited due to poss piir triping.

Edited November 20, 2015 by PaulG

[jenlyn]

It says Or 14 Days If Clear.

Hehe

[Athy]

We're back to the old "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario.

 

CRT mark out the official winter moorings so that their enforcement teams don't hassle legitimately moored boaters, and apparently that's wrong?

 

 

In what way? It is generally accepted, for example, that if a long-term mooring is currently unoccupied, another boat can moor there overnight. How is this any different?

[PaulG]

In what way? It is generally accepted, for example, that if a long-term mooring is currently unoccupied, another boat can moor there overnight. How is this any different?

I was thinking more along the lines of a boat with a winter mooring licence/permit/whatever getting reported for overstaying because they are moored in the wrong place.

 

Marking out the areas that a covered by the winter mooring licence just seems eminently sensible to me.

 

Especially as the original objection seemed to be about the cost (post #30)

Edited November 20, 2015 by PaulG

[junior]

All it was was a duplicate thread! don't start worrying! The only people to join that thread was the OP and the mod that closed it!

 

Too late, I took too long!

When that happens isn't it normally the done thing to just merge the threads rather than lock one of them?

 

Anyway, csn someone link to the FB thread that instigated this forum thread? I love a good Facebook rant but can't seem to find it.

[RLWP]

When that happens isn't it normally the done thing to just merge the threads rather than lock one of them?

 

It was just a quote from Facebook. Next post I pointed to this thread

 

No new content lost, no big deal

 

I'm sure you can get the other thread unlocked if you really want

 

Richard

[Paul C]

When that happens isn't it normally the done thing to just merge the threads rather than lock one of them?

 

Anyway, csn someone link to the FB thread that instigated this forum thread? I love a good Facebook rant but can't seem to find it.

 

If there's any content of value, the a thread would be merged to retain both threads' posts AND allow the discussion in one place. Remember that if its not merged, nothing is lost - its just that some content is in a locked, other, thread. Yes it falls off page 1 but its still with us - no data loss etc. If the later thread is a duplicate, or as near as same content to be considered a duplicate, there is no need to merge the threads. While merging threads can sometimes be useful it can also be confusing, since the timeline of the contents don't naturally flow that well, so I am reluctant to merge threads unless needed.

[dmr]

When that happens isn't it normally the done thing to just merge the threads rather than lock one of them?

 

Anyway, csn someone link to the FB thread that instigated this forum thread? I love a good Facebook rant but can't seem to find it.

 

The K&A facebook page became a closed group a little while ago, and judging by the responses to my post here I really am not surprised.

I am quite upset and shocked to find that just about everybody who posted here feels it is a good thing to remove dog drinking bowls from outside a boat.

Luckily, looking at the boats moored around me I deduce that this forum is no longer representative of the majority of boaters.

With the caveat that I have only heard one side of the story...

A little while ago CaRT put labels on items stored on the towpath saying they were to be removed. Boaters talked to CaRT who said small personal items and pushbikes would not be removed. CaRT employed Fountains and a team of volunteers to remove items and they removed much more then was agreed. Everything was put into a workboat (crewerd by volunteers) and then taken to the nearest bin compound, though higher values items were taken away. Some rather unpleasant behaviour from a "enthusiastic" voluteer was also reported.

 

..................Dave

[Gillie]

It is not 'just' junk..and not just from CCers ..one lady who pays for a disabled mooring has had her trolly used for taking her elsan to the elsan place removed..she is working on getting it back but how can that be right ?

This year we have travelled hundreds of miles and I have walked past countless mooring sites with gardens..piles of logs/coal ..picnic tables and loads of other stuff on 'their' moorings..why should it be different on the K&A?...I don't hear of CRT removing stuff from Uxbridge moorings where there are sheds and gazebos on the towpath.

 

I know people 'take the piss'..but I am sure if CRT start getting Fountains to remove stuff from the K&A it won't be long before it happens in other places...and I guess lots of people here have permit moorings with 'stuff' on the towpath..maybe they won't mind having their belongings taken away?

Edited November 20, 2015 by Gillie

[PaulG]

It is not 'just' junk..and not just from CCers ..one lady who pays for a disabled mooring has had her trolly used for taking her elsan to the elsan place removed..she is working on getting it back but how can that be right ?

This year we have travelled hundreds of miles and I have walked past countless mooring sites with gardens..piles of logs/coal ..picnic tables and loads of other stuff on 'their' moorings..why should it be different on the K&A?...I don't hear of CRT removing stuff from Uxbridge moorings where there are sheds and gazebos on the towpath.

 

I know people 'take the piss'..but I am sure if CRT start getting Fountains to remove stuff from the K&A it won't be long before it happens in other places...and I guess lots of people here have permit moorings with 'stuff' on the towpath..maybe they won't mind having their belongings taken away?

The problem is that once authorities start to take action, then it can usually look heavy-handed.

The guys they send out for a cleanup are employed more for muscle than grey matter, and, to be fair, are probably just told to clear everything off the towpath.

They are not in a position to be able to make a distinction between dog bowls and discarded junk.

 

But I think if you are looking for a culprit, in most cases you need look no further than the people who made the clearance necessary in the first place.

[Jerra]

 

I am quite upset and shocked to find that just about everybody who posted here feels it is a good thing to remove dog drinking bowls from outside a boat.

Not being a dog owner could you please explain why the dog bowl needs to be on the towpath rather than on the boat?

[Victor Vectis]

CaRT employed Fountains and a team of volunteers to remove items and they removed much more then was agreed. Everything was put into a workboat (crewerd by volunteers) and then taken to the nearest bin compound, though higher values items were taken away. Some rather unpleasant behaviour from a "enthusiastic" voluteer was also reported.

 

I don't want to get into an argument about what constitutes junk and what doesn't, but the use of volunteers in what seems to be an 'enforcement' action I find worrying.

[RLWP]

I don't want to get into an argument about what constitutes junk and what doesn't, but the use of volunteers in what seems to be an 'enforcement' action I find worrying.

 

Interpretation

 

Is this an act of enforcement or tidying the canal? Remember, the list of removed items includes stuff dumped in hedges

 

Richard

[Jerra]

the use of volunteers in what seems to be an 'enforcement' action I find worrying.

Was it enforcement or a litter clear up? Surely volunteers are regularly removing junk from the waterways.

 

The problem is who defines junk and what they define as junk.

[jenlyn]

 

The K&A facebook page became a closed group a little while ago, and judging by the responses to my post here I really am not surprised.

I am quite upset and shocked to find that just about everybody who posted here feels it is a good thing to remove dog drinking bowls from outside a boat.

Luckily, looking at the boats moored around me I deduce that this forum is no longer representative of the majority of boaters.

With the caveat that I have only heard one side of the story...

A little while ago CaRT put labels on items stored on the towpath saying they were to be removed. Boaters talked to CaRT who said small personal items and pushbikes would not be removed. CaRT employed Fountains and a team of volunteers to remove items and they removed much more then was agreed. Everything was put into a workboat (crewerd by volunteers) and then taken to the nearest bin compound, though higher values items were taken away. Some rather unpleasant behaviour from a "enthusiastic" voluteer was also reported.

 

..................Dave

I've run out of greenies, but post worthy of one.

[Victor Vectis]

I don't have a problem with canal clean ups, a la BCNS & etc.They are a good thing.

 

What I don't like is a what appears to be a wholesale scooping up of stuff, bikes, trollies etc which appear to have an owner.

 

P'raps 'enforcement' wasn't the right word to use. Might 'over zealous application of policy by volunteers' have been better (if somewhat longer!)

[Sir Nibble]

I've seen huge piles of refit scrap left behind which is out and out fly tipping. There also seems to be some unsure of their decision to live in a seven foot wide boat who turn the surrounding area into an extension of their home. But I'm damned if I understand what the problem is with a bike leant against the side of a boat or a dog bowl. Nothing blocks a towpath more than a big dog sleeping across it but I bet they didn't take any of them!

[alan_fincher]

Nothing blocks a towpath more than a big dog sleeping across it but I bet they didn't take any of them!

 

You have not seem some of our local anglers and their tons of equipment, pitched tents and multiple massive glass fibre rods then!

 

Navigating a St Bernard right across the tow-path would be a doddle by comparison!

[Sir Nibble]

Yea but you can step over a fishing rod without the fear it's going to up and bite your nutsack off!