Ed Helps on BWML

IT SEEMS that it is not only narrowboatworld that is concerned about Canal & River Trust's marina subsidiary, British Waterways Marinas Ltd (BWML makes a £877,642 loss!), writes Allan Richards.

Ed Helps, Managing Director of ABC Leisure Group Ltd has emailed pointing out that BWML also wrote off £714,087 of assets last year.

Nothing to do with CaRT

Mr Helps is a member of CaRT's South Wales & Severn Waterways Partnership and a director of Drifters Leisure Limited, the hire boat booking company which is partially owned by CaRT.

Ed also featured prominently in a case study in CaRT's 2014/15 Annual report (page 22) concerning charitable giving with a picture and his name mentioned no less than four times.

Strange then that he should start an email to narrowboatworld with ‘As you know I have nothing to do with CaRT ...'.

Oh dear!

Wrote off over £1 million

Despite being so ridiculously misleading concerning his association with CaRT, his claim that, in addition to making an operating loss of £877,642 in 2014/15 , BWML also wrote off £714,087 is entirely correct.

What he fails to point out,however, is that in its previously year, CaRT wrote off a further £312,510. This means that over the last couple of years, BWML has written off over £1 million.

With one of its most ardent supporters now pointing out BWML's poor performance, is this not another reason why CaRT should sell BWML?