The Bargees take to Paliament to fight the boat licence surcharge

THE National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA), have launched a licence surcharge campaign.

This to include  a drop-in session in Parliament this month, with the association telling:

The Licence Surcharge Campaign is a campaign by and for itinerant boaters against a new surcharge on boat licences introduced this year, and is hosting a drop-in session in Parliament from 10:30am to 11:30am on Wednesday 6th November.

Represents the interests

The campaign is supported by the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA), which represents the interests of itinerant boat dwellers living and travelling on the UK’s inland waterways.

The session, set up by Baroness Jenny Jones, is intended to alert MPs and peers to the issues faced by boaters, primarily in regards to the mismanagement, discrimination and hostile policies of the Canal & River Trust, tells the association.

The Licence Surcharge Campaign has prepared a briefing document, which can be accessed here, in order to explain the threat to the liveaboard boating community, and the canal network in general, posed by the current management of the trust.

Main concerns

What are boaters’ main concerns?

1. The surcharge on boaters without a home mooring—From April 2024 Canal & River Trust has applied a swingeing surcharge to itinerant boaters’ licence fees, amounting to 30% above that of boaters with a home mooring, and on top of that year on year above inflation rises. We face increases of between 64% and 130% by 2028, which will push many boaters into financial dire straits, and push many others off the water altogether, potentially into homelessness.

2. Eliminating mooring spaces—Since 2021, significant lengths of the Lee in London have been deemed as 'no mooring' zones on spurious safety grounds. These and other mooring policies have greatly reduced the mooring space available for itinerant boat dwellers, compromising our ability to be where we need to be to maintain access to jobs, healthcare and schools whilst maintaining an itinerant lifestyle. Some of these mooring spaces have recently been changed to being chargeable at £25 to £35 per night, effectively pricing itinerant boaters out of large areas of the waterways, especially in London, and leaving swathes of the towpath unpopulated and dangerous.

3. Discriminatory behaviour and threats to boaters’ way of life—Since 2015 the trust has operated a punitive and unlawful enforcement policy that goes far beyond simply enforcing the legal 14 day limit in any one place (see the British Waterways Act 1995, the Public Right of Navigation and case law for details). Its increasingly draconian policies demand that boaters without a permanent mooring travel in a range of movement and in a pattern that is making it progressively harder to maintain access to jobs, schools, health care and elderly relatives, and prevents them from returning to the places they need to visit regularly. Recent years have seen a concurrent increase in enforcement, with many Bargee Travellers being bullied off the water or, in some cases, having their homes seized, making them and their families homeless. In 2016 CRT reported that “over 60% of all continuous cruisers were under enforcement”. Since then, CRT has progressively tightened its enforcement policy so that fewer and fewer Bargee Travellers are deemed to be complying, even though the law has not changed since 1995. The NBTA Casework Team has handled over 1,000 cases to date, the majority of which have been enforcement matters where Canal & River Trust has targeted boaters without a permanent mooring in a disproportionate, unfair and unlawful way. This discrimination follows in a long history of ‘othering’ us through policy changes and misapplication of terms and conditions. CRT has made it clear that its express intention is to reduce the number of boat dwellers without a permanent mooring and increase the number of leisure and business boats.

4. Harassment—Iniquitous policing of licences and associated terms and conditions, through threatening and bullying tactics, gaslighting, impoliteness and carelessness are routine tactics used by the trust's enforcement staff. For example, paying one’s licence fees by Direct Debit is fraught with difficulty as it frequently either fails to take any payments leaving the boater owing a huge debt, or takes too many payments. Most Bargee Travellers have a story to tell of its carelessness, maladministration, incompetence, or contempt for boaters, and of the never ending struggle for us not to face the restriction of our licences and seizure of our homes. This bullying, gaslighting enforcement drives many Bargee Travellers to utter despair or off the water altogether.

5. Diminishing utilities—The water taps, Elsan (sewage), rubbish disposal facilities and other utilities such as toilets and showers provided by the trust are being systematically removed from service. Across the network we see these facilities falling into disrepair, access being removed, or facilities simply shut down. CRT claims it has no obligation to provide these essential facilities. In 2012 CRT isolated the Lee north of London and then shut off potable water in the isolated area. Currently, CRT is massively increasing the distance between serviceable facilities so that in order to access them, a Bargee Traveller must travel for over a day to fill up with potable water, or empty the toilet and dispose of domestic waste. These essential services were provided by British Waterways (and thus obligated to Canal & River Trust) and paid for by boaters in our licence fees, which has an equivalence to council tax.

6. No political oversight, no accountability—With the establishment of the trust, any ministerial oversight was removed save for review of the DEFRA grant, which in 2022 the Waterways Minster sought to axe, in essence completing the privatisation. Conversely, complaints made to Parliament and petitions handed to 10 Downing Street are referred back to the Chief Executive of CRT, the very same place as the basis of the complaints. This leaves boaters with almost no recourse to justice.

Sessions held

The drop-in session will be held between 10:30am and 11:30am on Wednesday 6th November in Committee Room 3a in the Houses of Parliament. Any journalists interested in attending to learn more about the issues facing Bargee Travellers are encouraged to attend - you can contact Mark Keir, the Licence Surcharge Campaign activist running the session, on 07591 924983.

[In view of the complaint of not being able to attend schools, surgeries, etc, we must point out that not having a permanent mooring the boaters are therefore continuous cruisers and so accept such rules that means they must travel a certain distance every 14 days and not return to that same place—Editor.]