Pre-booking will cause havoc to hirers

Published: Monday, 31 October 2022

So what is it with CaRT requiring more and more infrastructure to be pre-booked up to 48 hours in advance? Asks John Coxon.

Volunteers

Is it because they just don't have the staff? I think not! Is it to free up staff? Again I think not! Most of the staff who operate these locks/bridges/tunnels are volunteers, not full time staff.

I think it's so anyone who is not licenced on their system cannot move very far as they will not be able to make a booking and therefore not be allowed to make the passage?

Well this may just be another idea of CaRT's that backfires. Those without licences will not mind being stuck in one place as that is what most of them crave for anyway! CaRT just seem to be playing into their hands again.

Hirers are going to suffer

The boaters that are going to suffer most here are the hirers. Out for their two weeks holiday and stuck behind a lock/tunnel/swing-bridge for a couple of days at a time. This could amount for up to six or more days just sitting waiting for CaRT volunteers to turn up and let them through. [Many people now take advantage of the cheaper rate of hiring in the winter months as all boats have good heating—Editor]

If they've just got a week then it would be even worse, spending days and days out of seven forced to sit and wait wouldn't go down too well I think.

It would be no good expecting them to plan ahead on this matter as most hirers have no idea how long it will take them to get from A to B on the canals, they just haven't got the experience and will not know about the required advanced booking.

Creating animosity

All that will happen is hirers will be forced to rush back at the end of their holiday because they have lost so much time waiting. This will just create more and more animosity between them and boat owners because of the speed the hirers will need to travel to get back on time.

Hire companies will be displeased as well as they will end up having to recover boats from all over the system because the hirers were unable to return them before having to leave and return home to work! Also, most of these stuck boats will be tied to lock/bridge/tunnel landings causing problems for other users.

What we have here is just another ill thought out cock-up from CaRT who just cannot think outside the box because those who think up most of these idiotic schemes have never been outside of their box!