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.
Following a Section 8 case, CRT is bringing further court proceedings to get over £76,000 it claims it spent on legal action against a disabled boat dweller.
The Court of Appeal yesterday (23 July) granted permission to Nick Brown for a Judicial Review of the Canal & River Trust’s (CRT) 2011 Guidance for Boaters Without a Home Mooring.
There will be a public meeting on 27th April with speaker Nigel Moore, who recently won a six-year court battle with BW/ CRT, ending in a Court of Appeal judgement preventing CRT from seizing his boat. The meeting will be in Uxbridge, at the Malt Shovel pub, Cowley UB8 2JE, from 12-6pm.
We have just received the following press release from Nigel Moore, who has won his case on appeal:
“They used to boast that they had never lost a Section 8 case, but the Canal & River Trust now have suffered a significant setback with regard to the extent of their claimed powers over boaters.
Documents provided in response to a Freedom of Information request show that in 2010-2011 BW had a target of seizing 100 “non compliant” boats per year. Monthly reports to management by the BW Enforcement Team in April, May, June, August and October 2010 also show that BW under-estimated the cost of seizing boats, which was around ￡3,700 per boat, mainly to pay lifting contractors, and as a result was likely to miss its target and only seize 75 in the year to March 2011, despite recouping some of the costs by selling seized boats.
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