Osney Bridge, Oxford, River Thames

[Dorlan]

Stranded Oxford narrow boat 'deliberately untied' before crash

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-35497239

 

Anonymous man donates cheque of £25,000 to victim of sunken boat John Simmonds

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14255139.Tears_of_joy_for_boat_sinking_victim_after_donation_of___25k_from_anonymous_source/

[nipper]

Plus a crowd fund of around £1550.

 

He may well do pretty well from this, maybe he will insure the next boat.

 

I wonder if the sunk boat was licensed?

 

Nipper

[dmr]

He moors his boat for free on what is effectively public land with a view to acquiring that land free of charge for his own use.

He does not pay for insurance

The good public pay for his boat to be repaired.

The EA (taxpayer and boat owner funded) pay the huge cost of rescuing his uninsured boat.

He earns enough to buy a £60,000 boat.

 

For an old lefty I do have some very right wing thoughts sometimes!

 

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

[nipper]

Maybe he will be presented with a bill from the rescue services.

 

Lets face it, they are not silly, these services have to be paid for by the community. there must be a department that deals with the bills etc!

 

If he didn't pay moorings, Insurance, then he certainly doesn't pay community charges.

 

So, will he be charged? The RNLI have a department to retrieve moneys from rescues

 

Nipper

Edited February 4, 2016 by nipper

[MtB]

He moors his boat for free on what is effectively public land with a view to acquiring that land free of charge for his own use.

He does not pay for insurance

The good public pay for his boat to be repaired.

The EA (taxpayer and boat owner funded) pay the huge cost of rescuing his uninsured boat.

He earns enough to buy a £60,000 boat.

 

For an old lefty I do have some very right wing thoughts sometimes!

 

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

 

On the other hand...

 

Didn't one of the early reports say it was purchased with an inheritance?

 

And he has Aspergers according to the newspaper reports. I find life challenging enough without it!

 

And finally, it looks as though someone deliberately set his boat adrift.

 

But I agree, from here he is beginning to look a bit like a freeloader who was rubbing the locals up the wrong way to the point where someone got angry enough to take some direct action and pulled his mooring stakes out when he left the boat.

[Markinaboat]

Why am I now wincing having chipped in £10 and I've only had 4 weeks work since July AND I'm licenced, insured, pay mooring fees and enjoy an ever increasing credit card balance? However, I did read that he selflessly helped someone else recently, a boat fire?

[Scholar Gypsy]

Some pics of the recovery operation https://twitter.com/EnvAgency/status/695642526452203520

 

https://twitter.com/EnvAgency/status/695659995120148480

Edited February 5, 2016 by Scholar Gypsy

[MtB]

I get "Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!"

[alias]

I get "Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!"

Surplus space at the end of the link removed: https://twitter.com/EnvAgency/status/695659995120148480

[Scholar Gypsy]

I get "Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!"

That will be because of the spaces I added to the end of the URL. Now fixed and tested. Sorry!

[Scholar Gypsy]

Final message from the EA. I think they mean 20m not 20 ft

 

Dear customer,

 

Further to our message of 2 February, the 2 vessels have been removed and the navigation has reopened at Botley. This followed many hours of working across our departments, with framework contractors and partners, including the Army, to ensure our operations had the best chance of success. One vessel was successfully refloated and removed from the vicinity on 3 February and the remaining vessel, a 20ft barge lying across the navigation, was winched onto a temporary slipway to be removed to a local boatyard on 5 February. The river has been checked for debris and obstructions.

 

This was a long and complex operation and succeeded due to a well run joint partnership venture. Thank you for your patience during this time.

 

With regards,

 

Waterways Operations Team

Telephone: 03708 506506

Email: Waterways_west@environment-agency.gov.uk

[Sue]

There are some quite dramatic pictures and a good description from the Company who dragged the boat out ---> here. With thanks to one of my blog readers

[Graham Davis]

Thanks Sue.
A bit different to the usual jobs they get.

[LEO]

Maybe he will be presented with a bill from the rescue services.

 

Lets face it, they are not silly, these services have to be paid for by the community. there must be a department that deals with the bills etc!

 

If he didn't pay moorings, Insurance, then he certainly doesn't pay community charges.

 

So, will he be charged? The RNLI have a department to retrieve moneys from rescues

 

Nipper

 

Interesting post and well worth looking at the pictures of the salvage work undertaken (see Post 37).

 

An expensive operation and the final cost may be in the region of of £40,000 (back of envelope estimate by me!) - the EA have removed the boat and are storing it.

 

I would imagine they will want to reclaim costs.

 

It was a tricky part of the river to moor on - narrow and with a strong current - a suitably sized anchor would have helped as would insurance but I think assessors may have questioned the method of mooring in view of the conditions and perhaps avoided a payout.

 

L