NABO welcomes court decision

THE National Association of Boat Owners (NABO) tells us that it cautiously welcomed publication of details of completed court cases against boat owners by the Canal and River Trust.

This was where Nigel Moore took on the British Waterways Board and subsequently Canal & River Trust, and after many years eventually winning a landmark case against the authorities  and their draconian mooring demands. See narrowboatworld—CaRT loses Section 8 Case.

Start of change

Of the case, NABO National Officer for Moorings Matters, Simon Robbins writes:

This may represent the start of a change in approach after several years of asking, and we must welcome this. NABO has for some time been in dispute with British Waterways (now CaRT) over the enforceability and legality of some of its terms and conditions and about some more controversial assertions about its enforcement powers against boaters.

We have repeatedly said that the only practical resolution is to see what the courts make of our differing views on these matters. Until now we feel our requests for greater transparency about the outcomes of court cases have been largely ignored. The publication of some more details of some cases that have been completed since April 2012 represents some progress. We are still considering those details that have been released and may say more on that in the near future.

We will always support CaRT taking firm action against boaters who will simply not engage and play by the rules, against those who will not pay basic dues to CaRT for use of the waterways. However even on CaRT's numbers there are perhaps a few hundred boaters, no more, whose behaviour warrants the serious step of County Court action.

Blanket threats of legal action as happened on the Kennet & Avon Canal not so long ago are clearly counterproductive and inflammatory, and we hope CaRT will evolve a more proportionate and transparent approach.

However there is still some way to go and we will continue to press CaRT for further transparency and openness about its enforcement activities.