Not paying for boats on the Broads has 'spiralled in recent years'

THE  BROADS AUTHORITY tells that the percentage 14% of boaters on the waterways have not been paying tolls.

This has risen from the average of 400 notices a year to 1,708 last year, Janet Friend reports.

14% of boats

This, it tells is about 14% of the 12,000 vessels that use the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads each year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Bill Housden, a senior officer at the authority who is responsible for collecting the fees, tells that up until a few years ago he would only issue about 400 notices annually but the problem 'has spiralled in recent years'.

John Packman, chief executive of the authority, added:

"We have already had 6,000 people pay their tolls with great alacrity, but others dishonestly do not pay. The high cost of that is borne by everybody else."

Six boat sunk this year

The authority told it was also working to tackle the rising number of wrecks and abandoned vessels in the Broads, with six boats sunk in the Yare in the first four months of 2025.

The non-payment problem has been blamed on a trend of 'gifting', where boats in poor condition have been given to people for free or sold cheaply so that owners avoid having to dispose of them, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A boat amnesty scheme could be implemented later this year to 'nip the problem in the bud', according to the Broads Authority.