The free loaders

THERE is nothing that annoys genuine boaters more than the free loaders on the system, and not just in London, write Jan and Malcolm Gunningham.

Maybe they pay the basic licence these days, but for sure some of them do not have Safety Certificates judging by all the unfixed gas bottles around, cans of diesel and dodgy looking chimneys etc. It is the same problem as travellers that squat where they please.

Dodges

There is a letter in the latest Towpath page 102, which lists the dodges they employ to retain their positions, including moving for water at night and internet arranged swapping. One of the dodges is to provide a pile of straw to attract the moorhens!

I hope that the new CART will get a grip on this problem and move them on or make them pay for a designated on-line mooring if they wish to stay in one place.

Why 14 days?

On another note why is it necessary to define 14 day visitor moorings, surely these should be 48 hours, five days or less moorings as for example the Staffs and Worcs Canal. Surely 14 days is for anywhere else, not on any of the visitor moorings.

Can we start a campaign for the genuine cruiser and the hire boaters (without whom our canals would probably go bankrupt) for shorter time visitor moorings. This would help the pubs and shops. How many times have we heard hire boaters say they haven't been able to moor at Fenny Compton and go into the pub, there are far too many 14 days moorings there.

This is well meant, we want the canals to continue for the genuine boater, not become a linear boat park.