Following the CRT consultation on licence fees in March this year, CRT announced on 5th October 2023 that it would impose a surcharge on licences without a home mooring, making these licences more expensive than licences for boats with a home mooring. We oppose this discriminatory and unfair move, which is the biggest attack on the community of liveaboard boaters without a home mooring since CRT’s 2015 enforcement policy for boats without a home mooring.
Boats without a home mooring will see an increasing surcharge on their licences over the next 5 years from April 2024 so that the surcharge in 5 years’ time will be 25% of the licence fee. This is in addition to the above inflation increase in all licence fees. These are the percentages of the surcharges:
April 2024: Standard licence fee + 5%
April 2025: Standard licence fee + 10%
April 2026: Standard licence fee + 15%
April 2027: Standard licence fee + 20%
April 2028: Standard licence fee + 25%
The actual amount of the surcharge will not be known until the inflation increase is decided. So in 5 years’ time we could be paying a surcharge of 25% of a massively increased licence fee. The existing surcharge on widebeams will also be increased significantly. See CRT’s announcement here
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/new-structure-of-boat-licence-pricing-following-increase-announcement
Don’t let CRT price us off the water! Oppose the discriminatory surcharge! The National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) held a protest meeting this week and will be running a campaign of resistance to these price hikes.
There will be a boaters’ meeting in Bradford on Avon on 15th October to discuss the licence fee surcharge and other matters to do with CRT.
See also
https://www.bargee-traveller.org.uk/call-to-fight-crts-divisive-licence-fee-hikes/
Tags: Bargee Traveller's Association, boat licence fees, continuous cruising, inflation, liveaboards, meeting, Protest, widebeams