No more one day boat licences

Published: Friday, 22 March 2019

 THE Canal & River Trust has today announced that it is to stop one day boat licences.

This means that the shortest licence that can be purchased is for one week. However, one month and 30 days flexible ‘explorer’ licences are still available, the price of these proportionately to reflect the greater administrative costs.

Result of national licensing consultation

This is the result of the national licensing consultation last year, and the announcement of changes to the short term licences the charity offers to visiting boaters. It tells that  nearly eight out of ten of those who shared their views on short-term licences felt it was fair to withdraw one day licences but retain one week.

 The trust will continue to offer short term licences for visitors and those who have boats off the water and will remove the daily licence. Provision will be made for discounts for legitimate cruising clubs who host events that require one day licences. The revised prices are available via the trust’s Useful downloads, application forms and licence fees webpage.

Valuable to visiting boaters

Jon Horsfall, Head of Customer Services, at Canal & River Trust, explained:

“Short term licences are valuable to visiting boaters and those who keep their boats out of the water. We want to continue to offer this service so every boater has the chance to discover our wonderful waterways. This needs to be balanced with the cost savings we need to find as a charity, to ensure our resources are best spent looking after the canals and rivers in our care.

 “We’ve listened to the boaters who responded to our national licensing consultation and we believe that our new short term licence structure offers both flexibility and good value for those who choose to explore the 2,000 miles of waterway we look after.”