£33 to wind your boat!

Published: Wednesday, 24 November 2010

SHOULD your boat be above 50 feet, and you want to wind at the bottom of the Oxford Canal it will not cost you £15 as first stated but £33!

With a winding hole only able to take a 50 feet boat, it means that any that are longer have to be taken through Isis Lock on to the Thames to wind, but the Environment Agency states that to do this the boater will have to have a visitors permit—at £33!

Visitor permit

It was at a meeting last week at Isis Lock,  Kevin Mcniff tells us, over the problems raised by installation of the pontoon and steel piles, as reported in narrowboatworld, that the EA representative stated that all boats that exit Isis Lock to wind and then return to the lock will have to have a visitor permit, with Kevin remarking:

"The winding hole above Isis lock is only 50 feet long. So any boat over that length is liable to a £33 day charge for a 15 minute procedure. And how are EA going to police this anyway? Bloody crackers!

"The emphasis now is to get the winding hole lengthened which will involve negotiations with Worcester College and others. Will probably cost far less than the £90K floating pontoon."