It can be done

I REMEMBER when John Telford, a member of the then British Waterways Enforcement team, mounted a campaign on the stretch of the Trent & Mersey Canal from Etruria to Willington, writes Ralph Freeman.

John 'cleaned up' this patch without recourse to aggression or bullying; indeed I understand he received letters of support for his actions from genuine boaters!

 

Firm but fair

He was firm but fair and got the job done. He never needed a minder and was always prepared to talk (sensibly) about mooring issues to boaters. Could that be the reason his time on that stretch of the Trent &d Mersey was so productive? The continuous moorers were persuaded to take moorings, usually on-line, or mend their ways. They were left in no doubt that they could no longer 'get away with it'.

Indeed a small minority saw the game was up and sold their boats. They were not a loss to the canals as their modus operandi tended to be of the 'I'm all right Jack, sod you' variety!

Aggression and bullying

It would seem therefore it is possible to carry out effective enforcement without the need for aggression and bullying. In my experience boaters will respond to the latter by either reflecting that misguided attitude presented by the Trust, fight tooth and nail through the legal system like Tony Dunkley, or simply leave the canals altogether.

Counter productive

In either case the effect is counter productive and does not look well for an organisation that purports to be a charitable Trust. So Mr Parry, if you want to know how to do cost effective, low profile enforcement you could do worse than have a friendly chat with a certain John Telford who has 'been there—done that'!