C&RT Seize Pensioners Boat 27th March

[Tumshie]

I don't think that CRT are really villains here and the gentleman has probably been living just beyond the line of acceptable for a while, neither do I thing he would have let this whole situation come to point where his boat was taken if he could have done anything to prevent it. But it's not okay that he was living without a BSSC or insurance.

I don't know what the NBTA expect from CRT in these circumstances but it seems like they want something akin to squatters rights.

 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Tumshie

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

NBTA expect from CRT in these circumstances but it seems like they want something akin to squatters rights.

You maybe new to the inland waterways but you have pretty quickly understood, and summed up, the NBTA in one sentence.

[dogless]

Some of these comments are nauseating in their sanctimoniousness and smugness,  in my view.

If some one has to be evicted from their home I would wish, at the very least, other agencies are contacted in advance, and that on the day every possible avenue to re home the person instantly has been explored and made public. 

For C&RT staff to turn up mob handed at 9am, with a number of Police, and tell some one to take their dog, and what they can carry off the boat, before seizing it, is simply unacceptable.

C&RT actions may well be legal, but there is a much better way.

Whilst holding out a begging bowl with one hand (breech) they conduct themselves in this bullying unnecessarily brutish way.

Rog

[PD1964]

17 minutes ago, dogless said:

Some of these comments are nauseating in their sanctimoniousness and smugness,  in my view.

If some one has to be evicted from their home I would wish, at the very least, other agencies are contacted in advance, and that on the day every possible avenue to re home the person instantly has been explored and made public. 

For C&RT staff to turn up mob handed at 9am, with a number of Police, and tell some one to take their dog, and what they can carry off the boat, before seizing it, is simply unacceptable.

C&RT actions may well be legal, but there is a much better way.

Whilst holding out a begging bowl with one hand (breech) they conduct themselves in this bullying unnecessarily brutish way.

Rog

Seams to happen quite a bit on "Can't pay we'll take it away" when people fall behind on their payments and financial obligations, seams there's little difference between living on the canals and on land.

Maybe CaRT should do it more often with un-licensed, un insured boats and sell the rights for the TV programme to Channel 5, If they did maybe my license wouldn't go up every year.

Edited April 1, 2018 by PD1964

[Jess--]

2 hours ago, Tumshie said:

While I do feel for the gentleman's situation I can't help but think if the NBTA community had really cared about him, rather than the drama of the situation, then they would have helped him keep his boat rather than weaponise his predicament.

It seems that NBTA needed a new martyr.

 

9 minutes ago, dogless said:

For C&RT staff to turn up mob handed at 9am, with a number of Police, and tell some one to take their dog, and what they can carry off the boat, before seizing it, is simply unacceptable.

would 10 AM have been better?
I would imagine that this has been ongoing for many months and everyone involved knew exactly when the boat was due to be taken.

[tree monkey]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation and I doubt anyone here really knows the history of who did what to who the poor sod shouldn't have been left on the towpath with his possessions stacked around him

[rgreg]

5 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation and I doubt anyone here really knows the history of who did what to who the poor sod shouldn't have been left on the towpath with his possessions stacked around him

So what should have happened?

[Paul C]

3 minutes ago, rgreg said:

So what should have happened?

I believe what has happened in previous cases is that the local authority arranges for storage of items/etc on credit. Then they will charge for that storage once it is no longer needed.

[tree monkey]

2 minutes ago, rgreg said:

So what should have happened?

As a minimum social services should have been there but then again I'm one of those hippy idealists that thinks that no one should be left like this

[Tumshie]

I think that every eviction is probably carried out the same way regardless of who is doing the evicting or who is being evicted - they are brutal and harrowing for the evictee.

I would like to think that he would be given some sort of roof over his head - the local authority in my area has a program for people who are a in danger of becoming homeless, it is available to single people as well as families. 

[Murflynn]

the general public and some folk on this forum (and of course the NBTA) probably view 'boating' with rose-coloured glasses.

if this guy was living in a scruffy campervan parked on a public road with his stuff stacked around his van, and had no tax or insurance, he would have his vehicle confiscated within a few weeks, and would probably be considered to be a public nuisance........  why is living on a boat any different?

[tree monkey]

4 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

the general public and some folk on this forum (and of course the NBTA) probably view 'boating' with rose-coloured glasses.

if this guy was living in a scruffy campervan parked on a public road with his stuff stacked around his van, and had no tax or insurance, he would have his vehicle confiscated within a few weeks, and would probably be considered to be a public nuisance........  why is living on a boat any different?

Personally I don't think it is any different. 

Whatever the location, road, river, field no one should have there home removed without some sort of organised alternative

[dogless]

We are discussing someone's life.

Someone's home.

How long had the man lived on board legally?

If it has "taken months to reach this stage" why couldn't a little extra time be taken to find him alternative accommodation or at the very least, allow him to vacate with some dignity.

There has got to be a better way.

Rog

[rgreg]

4 minutes ago, dogless said:

We are discussing someone's life.

Someone's home.

How long had the man lived on board legally?

If it has "taken months to reach this stage" why couldn't a little extra time be taken to find him alternative accommodation or at the very least, allow him to vacate with some dignity.

There has got to be a better way.

Rog

If he's already had months how many more should he be given? A line has to be drawn somewhere. Also, on the point of assistance, some people may just be plainly obstructive and refuse to cooperate with any help offered.

[Boater Sam]

Someone has to skim the dross off the top, its a fact of life.

In the UK, any person who is rendered homeless only has to go to the local authority to be provided with a bed for the night. That's why evictions take place early to give a chance for the situation to be resolved.

 

For the bleeding hearts who think that the situation with these boaters should be either ignored or put off indefinitely, how would you feel if the uninsured, unsafe, unlicensed boat next to you set on fire, burnt your boat, killed your family, with no recompense?

Ask yourself, if you had no licence, no insurance, no BSC, the boat was a stinking rotten tip, what would you do?

[Richard10002]

1 hour ago, dogless said:

Some of these comments are nauseating in their sanctimoniousness and smugness,  in my view.

If some one has to be evicted from their home I would wish, at the very least, other agencies are contacted in advance, and that on the day every possible avenue to re home the person instantly has been explored and made public. 

For C&RT staff to turn up mob handed at 9am, with a number of Police, and tell some one to take their dog, and what they can carry off the boat, before seizing it, is simply unacceptable.

C&RT actions may well be legal, but there is a much better way.

Whilst holding out a begging bowl with one hand (breech) they conduct themselves in this bullying unnecessarily brutish way.

Rog

We, (including you), do not know who has been contacted and what avenues have been explored, and what has not been explored. What you can be sure of is that this has been going on for a long long time, and there has been plenty of opportunity for the various supportive agencies to be involved, particularly as the guy seems to have friends who have loaned him a boat and who are organising a collection for him. In addition, the NBTA must have been involved for some time and will have been in a position to help, or call for help.

As I said above... if the help had started earlier, he could have been helped to fund his licence, his insurance, and his BSS, such that nobody would have been turning up at 9am....

Having said that... in my area, (Manchester), the council have a policy of telling people they cant help with homelessness until somebody is actually made homeless. This means people having to be evicted by bailiffs and on the street. If someone were to leave their home and becoming homeless at any point before the bailiffs come, they are deemed to have made themselves homeless voluntarily, and the coucil say they have no requirement to help, (This is actually illegal but, if you are the vulnerable tenant at risk, you are not really in a position to argue).

So it is entirely possible that the council will help the guy, but were not willing to do anything until after 9am on the day, when he was evicted.

[nipper]

I'm an old pensioner and I get about £500 ish a month!

It is said, the man is a pensioner, i wonder what he did with his? 

Nipper

Edited April 1, 2018 by nipper

[Boater Sam]

5 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

 

So it is entirely possible that the council will help the guy, but were not willing to do anything until after 9am on the day, when he was evicted.

Exactly what happens, I have experience in this area having  to repatriate an Englishman. You have to be MADE homeless before they can help.

[rawsondsr]

When i lost my home a couple of years ago, the council pretty much told me because i wasn't foreign, pregnant, or with children, they would pretty much never be able to help me.

Lived in the car for a few weeks in January/February.

 

So you only get help if youre in a certain group, others will just be left.

[Paul C]

1 minute ago, rawsondsr said:

When i lost my home a couple of years ago, the council pretty much told me because i wasn't foreign, pregnant, or with children, they would pretty much never be able to help me.

Lived in the car for a few weeks in January/February.

 

So you only get help if youre in a certain group, others will just be left.

Is one of the groups, "being old"? If so, then you'd have eventually received help.

[rawsondsr]

old woman probably, old man, less so.

foreigners, women and children first, british males last!

[Graham Davis]

1 hour ago, dogless said:

We are discussing someone's life.

Someone's home.

How long had the man lived on board legally?

If it has "taken months to reach this stage" why couldn't a little extra time be taken to find him alternative accommodation or at the very least, allow him to vacate with some dignity.

There has got to be a better way.

Rog

As yu think it is so terrible are you actually going to do anything about it other than typing?
Somehow I doubt it!

The guy has had plenty of warning about the actions that were taken, and has obviously ignored them.

[jeanb]

Altho' not strictly relevant to this thread, and bearing in mind the "London gets tough" thread from 05 February, I've just seen two craft under construction on the K&A just north of Sydney Gardens on the outskirts of Bath. They seem to consist of about a dozen large empty barrels lashed together, about 10 feet wide, and topped with a wooden platform and a shed, and the more substantial of them seemed to have folk inside. I was wondering if C&RT will take an interest in these craft and whether there are other issues. I am going to get in touch with C&RT next Tuesday to ask their advice.

[alan_fincher]

23 minutes ago, rawsondsr said:

old woman probably, old man, less so.

foreigners, women and children first, british males last!

Can you plese explain why, if all other things were equal, being foreign would have helped you, when being British did not?

Edited April 1, 2018 by alan_fincher

[tree monkey]

15 minutes ago, Graham Davis said:

As yu think it is so terrible are you actually going to do anything about it other than typing?
Somehow I doubt it!

The guy has had plenty of warning about the actions that were taken, and has obviously ignored them.

You know, your right, just bung the daft old sod in the vat of solyent green, problem sorted