Here is the internal CRT document that outlines the process by which a customer is required to take out a short term licence and the steps from there to a Section 8 action.
As Allan Richards has pointed out in an article on narrowboatworld.com it continues the policy of refusing to give clear guidance as to CRT’s requirements under Section 17 of the British Waterways Act 1995 to ‘satisfy the board’. Not only have they repeatedly refused, except by hints and other obscure messages, to give any clear statement to boaters as to the distances or directions it wants them to travel to satisfy CRT, they also refuse to give any guidance to their own staff.
Of course, this simply allows individual enforcement officers to pursue their own agendas and vendettas, thus reinforcing the present inconsistent bullying of boaters and maintaining the air of confusion and distrust surrounding the requirements of CRT.
As can be seen in the document this applies equally to boaters with home moorings who might go to the same spot each weekend. Particularly sinister is the threat “Valid reason for overstay* = reminder flagged as withdrawn” followed by “three valid reminders in three months – review case** and if necessary start enforcement for non-compliance”
* ie not spotted in a different spot between boat check sightings.
** It seems boaters, whatever they do, are now ‘cases’ and we take great exception to the use of such terms as ‘compliance’ which bear no relation to the laws by which boaters, and CRT themselves, have to abide.
Tags: 14 day rule, CC monitoring, continuous cruising, enforcement, MAC, monitoring process, Section 17, Section 8, short term licenses, Waterways Act 1995