More charges from CaRT?

FOLLOWING alteration of its ‘General Terms and Conditions for Boat Licences', will Canal & River Trust (CaRT) start charging for using the Anderton Lift, Ribble Link and Standedge Tunnel? Asks Allan Richards.

No announcement

CaRT has quietly revised its licence terms and conditions, starting this month, despite a previous revision only last November.

It was chairman of the Navigation Advisory Group (NAG), Licensing and Mooring sub group, Mike Annan, who reported on Facebook an extract from the latest boaters update.

‘The standard boat licence terms and conditions have been updated to remove the information about business boat licences which are now subject to different terms following the recent consultation. At the same time, we have made some cosmetic changes to the ordering and formatting of the schedules to improve clarity. There are no material implications for standard boat licence holders.'

Not published?

An initial problem was that the new licence terms and conditions did not appear to be published at all so boaters could not read them. Mike Annan provided a direct link to the document, and a link on CaRT's website was eventually added to point to it.

However, a week after pointing out that another link on CaRT's website is still pointing to the November document, nothing has been done to correct it.

Boaters misled?

Worse still, it appears that boaters have been misled by the NAG chairman. Yes, there are ‘cosmetic changes' with ‘no material implications' as claimed. However, there are also three changes with financial implications, with nothing being done to explain them.

Wording that makes it clear that the licence allows free passage through the Anderton Boat Lift, Standedge Tunnel and Ribble Link has been removed.

The ‘material implication' is that, with removal of the wording, CaRT can now charge separately for something previously included in the licence.

Towing

Licences no longer include permission to tow a butty or other craft. Again the ‘material implication' is that CaRT can now impose separate charges.

CaRT's refund terms have changed quite extensively with seemingly no explanation as to why, for example, an administration charge is now necessary.

Why?

Why is it that Canal & River Trust amends its licence terms and conditions but claims the changes are ‘cosmetic'?

.... and why is the chairman of NAG licencing and mooring sub-group who advise CaRT on these matters seemingly ignorant of these changes?