Business Advertising on my Boat?

[The Grumpy Triker]

Hi all,

Quick question which may sound a bit simple but unsure of CRT limitations on licences etc. - Can I legally advertise company contact details on the boat?

I know many do their own canal boat businesses but just thought I'd better check.

Cheers all ??

[Tumshie]

Do you mean your own business or do you want to sell advertising space?

[The Grumpy Triker]

Well technically it is selling advertising space.....even if it is my own company it would be selling. 

[W+T]

I will be if i ever get my boat afloat. I think CRT will be a little out of order if you cant stick  a sign on your boat. Different working off the boat though.

[The Grumpy Triker]

1 minute ago, W+T said:

I will be if i ever get my boat afloat. I think CRT will be a little out of order if you cant stick  a sign on your boat. Different working off the boat though.

? You never know with any licence issuer ....I wouldn't expect a problem but, being negative in this day and age, someone may have a sub-clause somewhere ??

[Tumshie]

Just now, The Grumpy Triker said:

Well technically it is selling advertising space.....even if it is my own company it would be selling. 

I suppose, but if you were selling your space to others it might be classed as trading from your boat. I just wondered.  ?

[The Grumpy Triker]

Just now, Tumshie said:

I suppose, but if you were selling your space to others it might be classed as trading from your boat. I just wondered.  ?

Cheers for the quick response ?

Yep that is the query I guess....if you have your own company then you are selling advertising space ....if you have any sense then there is a small monetary value to the recipient.....but unsure if advertising any company is an issue. My boat, my company but two different organisations, don't get me wrong, we're talking peanuts in monetary terms here but that's when you get hit with a big fine.

....loads trade from their boat, do they have to have trader licences?

[Tumshie]

3 minutes ago, The Grumpy Triker said:

....loads trade from their boat, do they have to have trader licences?

And how do CRT define a trader, whats the difference between trading and working from?

Sorry I'm not being much help - I'm just asking more questions. I'll shut up now.    

[Parahandy]

I run into a Signwriter periodically on a Widebeam called Vanitas who also is a Tattooist , his Craft is adorned with various script advertising his skills , no need for a Traders License and no interest from CRT

[Peter X]

There are lots of boats advertising long defunct carrying companies, some even showing the long obsolete phone number and/or address.

But if anyone out there does want to pay to move goods by canal, post on this forum and a real carrying company might respond. Warning: unless it's on rivers and/or the Manchester Ship Canal it will usually be cheaper and easier to send the goods by road or rail.

Being serious, I doubt that CRT would care about someone without a trader's licence advertising something unless they were really trading goods or services at the side of the towpath rather than just working from home.

[Horace42]

CRT have business development managers (somewhere) and can tell you if advertising is permitted - where there will probably be a license required - and a fee....

If you get nowhere in this respect, then if it was me, I would go ahead and advertise and wait for the experts to come along and tell me it is not permitted.

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Vinyl, rather than sign written, so it can be easily removed if you are told off!

 

Jen

[zenataomm]

I learnt a valuable lesson about 30 years ago.

 

If you can't stand the answer don't ask the question.  The basis being that if you question a bureaucratic regime a point blank question that can only result in a YES or NO answer then you are likely to be putting somebody with no authority in an impossible position.  Consequently they will default to negative to protect themselves and not be responsible for setting a precedence.

 

The answer will be no.

 

Do it and wait for them to find the evidence that says you can't, it won't be criminal law, and even if they try to insinuate it is, you can always say you called up and were told it was ok.  The complications arising from that would suggest no repercussions just to get out of the situation.

[MtB]

29 minutes ago, zenataomm said:

I learnt a valuable lesson about 30 years ago.

 

If you can't stand the answer don't ask the question. 

 

I can't stress how right this is. 

 

If you insist on a formal, official answer it will be NO. Undoubtedly. But if you just get on with cruising with your advert on the side, it will take many years or decades for anyone with a bee in their bonnet about such things to complain then many years or decades for the powers that be to enforce. 

 

So just place your ads and see what happens. Probably nothing will.

[1st ade]

9 hours ago, Peter X said:

...rather than just working from home.

And if the boat is their home?

 

(For example if my business was designing websites and I did it from my laptop on the boat am I "trading"?)

 

And I totally agree about not pushing too hard for a definitive answer!

[Parahandy]

I think the major difference to be recognised is that there is a fundamental difference between a Traders License where you Trade on the Towpath for a living and someone who is say a Motor Mechanic and simply has Joe Bloggs Automobile Engineer and a Phone Number on the side of his Boat . Under no circumstances can it be ascertained where the latter makes his living whereas the former is a regular visitor to various Festivals and Waterways Gatherings , too many Boaters are intent on making things unnecessarily difficult for themselves .

7 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Vinyl, rather than sign written, so it can be easily removed if you are told off!

 

Jen

You cant beat a practical woman ?

5 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

And if the boat is their home?

 

(For example if my business was designing websites and I did it from my laptop on the boat am I "trading"?)

 

And I totally agree about not pushing too hard for a definitive answer!

Of course your not Trading , how could you think such a thing ? What if I am a Lawyer , am I unable to fire off an Email to a client simply because I am on a Boat ?

[Neil Smith]

11 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Vinyl, rather than sign written, so it can be easily removed if you are told off!

 

Jen

Or magnetic, then whip it off when the tow path bongos tell you crt are coming and back on when their gone.

 

Neil

[KevMc]

There was a short lived 'fad' 20 years or so ago, whereby people would get their car painted with advertising ... don't think it ever made anyone rich except the painters

[system 4-50]

10 hours ago, zenataomm said:

I learnt a valuable lesson about 30 years ago.

 

If you can't stand the answer don't ask the question.  The basis being that if you question a bureaucratic regime a point blank question that can only result in a YES or NO answer then you are likely to be putting somebody with no authority in an impossible position.  Consequently they will default to negative to protect themselves and not be responsible for setting a precedence.

 

The answer will be no.

 

Do it and wait for them to find the evidence that says you can't, it won't be criminal law, and even if they try to insinuate it is, you can always say you called up and were told it was ok.  The complications arising from that would suggest no repercussions just to get out of the situation.

I am happy with the strategy but not with direct lies.  I know its unfashionable but I believe in not telling lies regardless of likelihood of being caught, etc.  

[Horace42]

12 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Vinyl, rather than sign written, so it can be easily removed if you are told off!

 

Jen

Great idea in principle - but please be aware I used plastic stick-on labels for my boat name - then changed my mind about the exact position - so took them off to re-apply them.

The 'easy' ones came off with the underlying paint as well, but the 'hard' ones needed a hot-air gun to shift them - labels and paint finish ruined in both cases in doing so.

[Peter X]

Parahandy, if you were a lawyer you'd really have nothing to fear, you'd know how to bog CRT down in court indefinitely.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, system 4-50 said:

I am happy with the strategy but not with direct lies.  I know its unfashionable but I believe in not telling lies regardless of likelihood of being caught, etc.  

 

I agree. FAR better to just claim ignorance if challenged by CRT. "Oh I didn't know whether it was ok or not so I just did it, thinking it would be fine."  

 

I very much doubt any challenging will occur though, unless the OP goes out of his way to upset people and gets himself complained about. 

[cuthound]

Plenty of boats painted by Andy Russell and others with a discrete script at the bottom of the boats name panel advertising the painter.

 

As far as I know they all have standard licences.

[jds_1981]

Considered reading your license terms?

 

You'll see that advertising is mentioned. I'm unable to work out whether it would be applicable. It may well be.  

 

Billposting etc. 47. No person shall, without the Board’s consent, affix or exhibit any
notice, sign or advertisement on or in any canal.

 

In reality though, I see loads of adverts. I doubt anyone cares unless you start leaving advertising boards along the verges.

[The Grumpy Triker]

? Cheers All, what a great batch of responses.....You have given me courage young men and women of the cut!!

 

I shall defy undefined wordings and post what I wish on the side of my boat!! ?

 

....first stop is a magnetic sign advertising a charity event but that wasn't the base of my original enquiry ??

Just now, The Grumpy Triker said:

? Cheers All, what a great batch of responses.....You have given me courage young men and women of the cut!!

 

I shall defy undefined wordings and post what I wish on the side of my boat!! ?

 

....first stop is a magnetic sign advertising a charity event but that wasn't the base of my original enquiry ??

Once more into the breach dear friends once more!!....well the cut anyway ?