The current Waterways Ombudsman, Hilary Bainbridge, will step down at the end of this month. A new Ombudsman has been appointed who will start work on 1st November 2012. The new Ombudsman’s name has not been announced yet. Ms Bainbridge took up the position in 2005. Her term of office was extended to cover the period of the transfer of BW to CRT. The Waterways Ombudsman adjudicates on complaints that have passed through both levels of the internal CRT complaints process where the complainant is not satisfied with the internal decision by CRT. In practice, a substantial proportion of complaints have not been upheld in the complainant’s favour by the CRT/ BW internal complaints process, and a third-party adjudicator is essential. For more information, see http://www.waterways-ombudsman.org/