Anchoring charges - legal?

damo

damo

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The Salcombe posts reminded me that Sailing Today(?) were trying to get a legal campaign going that challenged the "right" to charge for anchoring, which their legal advisor reckoned was wrong in law.

Does anyone know what the current position is?

Ilfracombe has also started charging, and for an area which is plagued with pot buoys and restricted by the need for swinging room for ferries.
 
I seem to remember that only certain Crown properties had the legal right to charge and that most municipal charges were illegal. But I can't affirm it.

This is something that the UK boating community should contest with all possible force because when some get away with it, they all will want to do it. Do you not pay enough for moorings in England as it is? What about the RYA?

John
 
This is what Ilfracombe say on their website...

Harbour Charges are payable when at anchor, at a buoy or alongside within the Harbour Authority area in accordance with and Under the provisions of the Harbours Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847, The Pier and Harbour Orders Confirmation Act 1870 (no.1) and Harbours Act 1964 ss. 26-31.
 
On the face of it, if they didn't have reasonable legal grounds to believe they could charge for it, they would be risking being prosecuted for fraud.
 
It's not necessarily fraud. Otherwise "Yes" I think they would. Certainly the lawyer who wrote the article stated plainly that some had no right to charge. As well as that it has been a sea-faring traditional that there is no charge for sitting to your own anchor.

What gives them jurisdiction over the land under the sea?

John
 
Agreed it's not necessarily fraud - but might be if they had no reasonable grounds to believe they have the right to do it. Hopefully for their sakes they got legal advice first.

Which doesn't necessarily mean they do have the right to charge. The sad thing is, if no one objects, they eventually will acquire the right to do it by use/custom.
 
There seems to be some sort of misunderstanding of the term "harbour dues", which is not a charge for anchoring. Everybody pays harbour dues in many harbours whether they go to anchor, berth alongside or pick up a mooring. Fees for picking up a mooring, say, have some per centage of harbour dues included in the charge.
IMO harbour dues are to cover the costs of running the harbour e.g. maintenance of lights and buoys, provision of waste disposal facilities etc. In Plymouth you pay no harbour dues because the harbour is run by the Queen's Harbourmaster, who is a naval officer, and you are privileged to use the facilities such as lights, buoys and beacons provided by and for the Royal Navy free of charge.
If a harbour such as Salcombe gains a reputation for high harbour dues you have the choice of paying the dues or not going there.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The sad thing is, if no one objects, they eventually will acquire the right to do it by use/custom.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then why not do as I do when the 'bag-waver' comes knocking. Politely refuse to pay and point out my anchor-chain. I have never had any problems. Some don't like me, but why should I care. Anchorers of the world, UNITE!
 
I popped my nose in to the River Beaulieu last year, dropped the hook so I could brief the next skipper on his passage, and with in five mins there was a knock on the top side and I had to pay £12 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it might have happened when Guapa was aboard also.

Al.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Then why not do as I do when the 'bag-waver' comes knocking. Politely refuse to pay and point out my anchor-chain. I have never had any problems. Some don't like me, but why should I care. Anchorers of the world, UNITE!

[/ QUOTE ]

Here here!

Tell em to ****** off.

This is the thin edge of the wedge. Widespread unpleasantness is the way forward!
 
It states Harbour charges not anchoring, they charge for the use, and in Chichester Harbour if you anchor they will check your licence and if you don't have one they charge for a day ticket, maybe that's what they are doing.
 
I should point out that I always ask what the payment is for. (Note: Don't prompt the wrong reply!) If the answer is 'Dues' then its usually fair enough. If the answer is 'for anchoring' then my reply is the 'Rory McGrath' ie Foxtrot,Uniform,....! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

A case in point is the ludicrous charted 'anchorage' in Keyhaven, at the back of Hurst Castle. With moored boats in the channel and steep-to shoreline, anchoring is all but impossible, yet they still want their pound of flesh. Not from Rocky they don't!
 
What could they do if you refuse to pay?

"Harbour dues" is one thing, and I think could be justified, but using the Dart as an example, if I anchor up the river past Dittisham I'm not using a harbour, I'm anchoring up a bl**dy river so why should I pay?

Ilfracombe is one of the few embayments along a very exposed piece of coast and the only place to anchor is near the entrance to the outer harbour, if you want to stay afloat and get some (limited)shelter. You would anchor in the same place even if the harbour constructions weren't there.

Does Ilfracombe no longer want visitors who can't or don't want to dry out?

I have never paid to anchor and I never intend to /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
A couple of years ago after anchoring in Ilfracombe, and after a very uncomfortable night, (no shelter at all) the harbour master radio'd me up when I was 5 miles out of the harbour sailing back home to Swansea. He wanted his money!!

My thoughts were that as I had used the harbour facilities, ie tying my dinghy up to their harbour wall, and getting ashore via the same, the charge was reasonable.

If I had not gone ashore, and used anything that the town had paid for, then the charge would have been unreasonable.

Mj
 
I'm not sticking up for them as I don't like the way they carry on, but this could be a River authority with the power to do it just the same as the Beaulieu.
 
He would have wanted money even if you hadnt landed.I know someone anchored in the range for 4 hours sitting out a foul tide then carried on up channel.months later on another visit to Coombe his boat name was in a blacklist for nonpayment. daylight robbery IMHO
 
Ive made up some name boards with"Snow Petrel " on .I Hang them over the name before anchoring. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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