CaRT gives its 'enforcement' position

THE article by our Allan Richards (Saying sorry is not enough) has prompted a response from Canal & River Trust, to set out its position and we feel in only fair we should include its statement:

Difficult job

Our enforcement staff do a very difficult job, and of course anyone who doesn't stick to the rules is going to face some tough questions. If a boater has run into trouble we will do what we can to help, but in a small number of cases people just don't want to play fair.

We have to tackle these situations. This may make us unpopular with the minority, but it's unacceptable that members of our team are subjected to abuse simply for doing their job—or, in the case of this article, insinuations about a particular member of staff.

Unjustified

We take complaints about our staff very seriously and investigate any that are brought to our attention. The accusations of harassment against Stuart Gardner are completely unjustified.