Comment—No winners

THERE have been no winners in the long drawn out Pillings Lock Marina fiasco, with both the marina and Canal & River Trust suffering monetary losses, and particularly terrible publicity in the case of the Trust.

The marina has eventually agreed to pay the Network Access Agreement charge, but at a reduced rate with the Trust losing valuable revenue to the tune of £180,000 plus £10,000 a year on the new deal. The marina itself having incurred high costs and the loss of capacity.

The boaters

But again it is the boaters at the marina who have suffered the most, not knowing as to whether they will have a mooring or not, or how a threatened blockade would affect the movement of their boats.

Numerous boaters have contacted narrowboatworld telling of their deep concerns at being left in limbo, not knowing what CaRT would do, and if they would be blockaded or not. One family particularly was having its members treated for stress and another boater was worried about having a home or not whilst it was all being argued. All were anguished at the situation that had been forced upon them.

Very worried

Others were very worried at having to take their boats out onto either the canal towpath or river bank, telling of the complete lack of such moorings and concerned at the new scourge by enforcement officers on moored boats.

Our Pam Pickett had also been approached by worried boaters not knowing how they stood or how they would be treated by the Trust if they were forced out of the marina, with one very concerned boater also suffering from stress by the situation.

Simple solution

Surely the obvious solution was to simply shut off the marina without preamble, then one way or the other it would have been settled very quickly indeed, without the boaters having to suffer, after all these very same boaters are CaRT's customers.

I wonder if any other so-called charity treats its customers in such a way?

Tom Crossley.