CRT earlier this year stayed Section 8 cases against two boat dwellers without permanent moorings, Matthew Jones and Christopher McKendrick, following the Court of Appeal judgement in Matthew Jones’s favour on 7th March 2017, we can now reveal. The Consent Order sealed by Bristol County Court on 23rd May 2017 shows that CRT reached a settlement with Matthew Jones. Both Mr Jones and Mr McKendrick have now re-licensed their boats without a permanent mooring. Their homes are not now under threat of being seized by the charity. Both had been deemed by CRT not to have moved “far enough”.
Yesterday (16th August 2017) CRT seized a boat that was a vulnerable person’s home using its powers under Sections 8 and 13 of the British Waterways Acts 1983 and 1971. The boat was craned out at Devizes Wharf at 11am and taken to an unknown location by road. There were 8 bailiffs and enforcement staff present. UPDATE: It has been reported that the evicted person is now sleeping rough.
Yesterday (16th May 2017) CRT seized a boat from Bishops Cannings and craned it out at the Black Horse in Devizes. The fibreglass cruiser, appeared to be unoccupied when six bailiffs started push-towing it with a dark green dory at around 10am to the Black Horse, where an A. B. Tuckey’s crane and flatbed truck were waiting.
K&A boater Matthew Jones yesterday won his appeal against CRT’s attempt to strike out the Article 8 elements of his defence against eviction from CRT’s waterways under Section 8 of the British Waterways Act 1983. The case will now be remitted back to Bristol County Court where Mr Jones will be able to put his Article 8 arguments in full. Mr Jones’s solicitor Community Law Partnership writes:
Off the Cut, Wendy Zakiewicz’s moving documentary about a Kennet and Avon boater’s struggle against being made homeless through the actions of CRT, provides a unique insight into a community of boaters living on the Kennet and Avon canal.
The film follows a family on their pedal powered boat as they embark on a journey in which their way of life, and that of the whole community, comes under threat.
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.
If you have been served with a Section 8 and CRT is continuing court action against you, you need to make a request to the Court for your case to be stayed pending the result of the appeal in the case of CRT v Jones.
Following the case of Geoff Mayers—where CRT removed his boat and transported it 200 miles to prevent him gaining access to it—by using Court procedures in an underhand way, it has become necessary to examine those procedures in some detail.
Three boaters spoke to Richard Parry, CRT’s Chief Executive, when he visited Crofton last Wednesday. One of the most significant things that they learnt was that Mr Parry will personally scrutinise every decision to take boaters to court from January.
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