Give it a rest! - The answer

The answer

This will also be the answer for the marina moorers who don't want to pay what they are being asked for, they could also find a bit of towpath and fork out 50p per foot. Just increasing the licence fees without any benefits whatsoever for anybody will only mean an increase in non-licenced boats and continuous moorers that need dealing with as more boaters will not be able to afford such a sudden and high increase to their licence fees and it will not stop inconsiderate continuous moorers.

And as Pam Pickett writes (narrowboatworld.com, 23 December 2012): 'The attitude that it is unfair that they who use the system less, i.e. leisure boaters 'have to pay' for a mooring, whilst those that continuously cruise don't, really cheeses me off. What happened to personal choice, I ask. If you feel badly done by because you can't cruise and thus need to pay for a mooring, perhaps best not to buy a boat, but to buy a caravan you can park on your drive. Simples!'

Have enough trouble

I am a continuous cruiser and I have trouble enough finding visitor moorings at the moment, so this is a problem for me that I would like to see resolved. I don't want to be tied to a home mooring, I have also resisted taking on a winter mooring so far as I consider them too expensive but I would consider one if the monthly price was what I have suggested above.

It could also be used to allow boats to overstay in an area for a short time if needed, and their requirements were telephoned to CaRT in advance so people like me could visit doctors, hospitals and other appointments, attend to breakdowns etc. that need time to resolve without incurring the wrath of CaRT enforcement etc. (Could also be a nice little earner for CaRT don't you think?)

Your choice

You chose your method of boating/mooring. You knew, or at least could have found out, what it would cost when you took it on. If you don't like it then cruise like me or get off the cut. In any case why should you expect me to pay your mooring fees? If you do then please tell me how I will benefit by such a large increase in my licence fee?

On the subject of continuous moorers I would like to draw the attention of the CaRT senior personnel readers/trustees and ask them to get their staff to lead by example. I have seen many, of what are now CaRT work boats, moored on lock landings, water points, visitor moorings etc. for far longer than the stated time limit and/or not making use of the facilities as asked on the adjacent signs.

Empty winter moorings

In one example I came across there was approximately 200 yards of visitor mooring given over to winter mooring, leaving approximately enough room to moor two smallish boats as visitors. The winter moorings were empty, and there was a CaRT dredger moored on one of the two visitor spots. I was told that it had been there for at least a month without being moved at all. This was late November and as I was unable to stop on the visitor mooring there I had to travel far farther than I planned that day and ended up not finding a suitable safe mooring spot until well after dark.

You will find that you will get a better response when asking boaters not to do something if you don't do it yourselves. There is no better way to educate than by example. The ‘do as I say and not as I do' syndrome doesn't work any more!

[No further comments concerning continuous cruisers or continuous moorers will be accepted for the foreseeable future—Editor.]