RIP Roving Mooring Permits?

I'm not sure how I should react to the news that CRT have backed off issuing Roving Mooring Permits. (The CRT press release is here as a Word .Docx file).

As a former NABO Council member I suppose I should at least be slightly pleased that our scepticism about the legality of the proposal has proved valid.

However I'm more relieved that unsuspecting boaters are now not going to be duped into parting with money for what I have personally highlighted as a highly dubious if not outright corrupt proposal.

The hand that bites you...

Not a very happy start to the year for CRT; huge amounts of coverage around CRT's treatment of what for want of a better phrase we seem to be calling vulnerable boaters. This followed the Bargee Travellers breaking the story with three cases and the associated petition.

While we do not know the whole story in each individual case (and indeed it is difficult for CRT to defend their actions without breaching data protection and confidentiality rules), for me there are just too many of these stories knocking about over the years. Having worked with and represented boaters to BW/CRT over many years and based on the poor standards of customer service I get, I find these reports wholly believable.

CRT of course have subsequently admitted that they do not have any written policies about when to take vulnerable boaters to court. Not then a huge surprise then.