Petition sent to Canal and River Trust trustees

Just to say thanks to those who have signed the petition so far; As I said to supporters through 38 degrees,  

I am planning to leave the petition open at least until CRT issues its response, so if you have friends or contacts who you think have not signed yet and who would still offer their support please encourage them to do so even though the formal consultation period is over. Any additional pressure we can keep on them to think again in advance of them deciding what to do next must be a good thing.

I have just sent the petition with 442 signatures to CRT with the covering letter reproduced below.

Given what they have said so far and given their general track record when it comes to acting on what boating customers say, I will not hold my breathe about them changing their minds. CRT knows best children.

PS. Spell check just offered the following option for the first time: Cabal and River Trust. I know Google is quite smart at discrening user preferences and learning stuff about you but....!

Dear Sir/Madam,
 

Please would you pass the attached petition to the Trustees for their consideration at the earliest possible opportunity.
 

The signatories to this petition call on the Trustees of the Canal and River Trust to withdraw their current consultation and only to re-issue it once it includes an option to measure support for scrapping the policy of allocating vacant moorings to the highest bidder.

 
At the time of writing 442 people have supported the petition. (Details in the attached pdf file.)

Please woud you also treat the petition as a formal response to your 'Mooring Sales Consultation'. Full details of the petition can be found at
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/that-the-trustees-of-the-canal-and-rrver-trust-withdraw-the-current-consultation-on-moorings-sales
 

I ask Trusteees to re-consider their current position of refusing to allow the opportunity to discuss the merits of the selling moorings vacancies to the highest bidder during the consultation to date.
 

Comments from signatories include the following which I also draw to your attention:

• undemocratic authoritarianism does not sit well with me
• It seems to me to be totally unfair to penalise those on a low budget and whilst I wish to see CRT raise revenue, I would prefer to see it done fairly.
• Its absurd that moorings go unused because CRT want more money for them than they are worth.
• because as a wanna be live aboard I wouild not be able to out bid the richer people for a mooring that would be suitable for us as a family.
• CRT are only focussed on money generation. They need some reins.
• this policy is completely unfair
• Moorings should not be allocated to the richest, but to those who need them the most.
• CRT say there is only one mooring available when there are two so people bid against each other
• I believe that the current auction procedure is does not protect us from phantom bidding which can drive mooring prices to unaffordable levels. I for one am paying far more than others around me and am struggling to meet these costs. It was rumoured when I won the mooring that an evicted boater had been putting in false bids for revenge. There system should not allow this to happen.
• The blind auction system was always an abuse of the remit to increase income in ways that are fair to all users.
• Supporting fellow boaters to rid high price moorings
• Auctions simply distort the system and are dishonest used in the context of pricing where someone will live
• So my friend would have somewhere to live.
• we need a fairer way of doing things

Yours faithfully
Simon Robbins
Kensal Green Moorings, London, W10