THE Inland Waterways Association demand that Canal & River Trust should take action against 'continuous moorers' is hypocritical, writes Allan Richards.
It was only a matter of time before it was pointed out that the IWA icon, Tom Rolt, was himself a 'continuous moorer'.
IWA campaign
With the pomposity for which it is noted, IWA announced on 28th of August that it had raised it concerns regarding 'continuous moorers' at the highest level within CaRT and that this issue was 'fast climbing IWA's priority action list'.
Despite nothing in the 1995 British Waterways Act that stipulates that boaters without home moorings have to move a certain distance within a given time-frame, it stated: 'A recent survey by British Waterways indicated that over a six months period around 1,000 boats without a home mooring did not move more than 5km and a further 1,000 boats not more than 10km'.
Hypercritical?
One presumes that as the survey shows that those without a mooring are actually moving, they can not be 'continuous moorers' as claimed!
Unlike, it seems, IWA founder, Tom Rolt, who moored his boat Cressy continuously at Tardebigge for several years as a poster currently being circulated on the internet shows.
Vandalised
One is left wondering how long it will be before this poster and similar are being used to cover lock beams vandalised by CaRT's £100,000 poetry scheme...