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BG1

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Went for a day trip to Clivedon Reach on Saturday. No locky at Bray except for a member of the public who was playing lock keepers. Surely this is more dangerous than no one at all. Who would be liable if there was an accident.

Got to Boulters - no locky! It was his break.

It's been suggested before that skilled boat owners, after suitable training, could have keys to operate the locks. If EA are cutting back perhaps this would be one way of alleviating the personnel shortage. What does the team think?
 
Often thought this would be a good idea. When Brian was the lockie at Hurley he would always leave the power on if he wasn't around or knew regulars were returning later. The middle gates at Cookham used to have the power left on and that could save quite a bit of time.
I anchored just below the island closest to the Cliveden bank on Saturday & think I saw you going up (yellow ish Moonraker?). Glorious and quiet untill one of the boats on the island let their teenagers into an inflatable and were obviously told to go and play out of earshot. Their idea of good fun was to shout at the top of their voices for no apparent reason. Coming back through Marlow Lock I was fired on by young kids with stones & catapults who were pretending to be fishing at the slipway adjacent to the church, pointed camera at them & they stopped. But that confirmed my predujices about all things Marlow.

Still great day out.

IanC
 
I believe that EA Byelaws state that in the absence of lockie only a skipper or crew member may operate a lock.
When I had an exchange of emails with the EA in connection with damaged that occurred in a lock I was told that the byelaws state that skippers are required not to cause damage to any EA property or infrastructure , equaly skippers are required not to cause damage to other vessels in the lock .. leaving me to conclude that whatever happens in the lock is always one or a number of skipper's fault (in the view of the EA of course). Get a copy of the Byelaws .. they are very revealing.
 
Simple; I live in Henley and there's always been a rivalry between the two towns (Marlow being a suburb/the rich end of Wycombe etc etc).

Various friends have had problems at the public moorings over the years, but I expect there are some nice people who live in Marlow.

IanC
 
In conversation with -

- several commercial skippers recently, I understand that their allocation of keys has been reduced to almost nil as the new conversions are introduced. EA has always been very sniffy about who can have a key, one boat moving outfit said it had taken him ten years to get a key at all.

A couple of years ago one trip operator was said to refuse to let other boats use the lock while he was working through; said to be "against my insurance policy".

A lot of the above may be the usual bull, but may have a grain of truth.

The point is that there is little justification for keys as at the beginning of next season there will only be three locks without OOHPP, Marlow, Whitchurch and Iffley, all of which, of course, are a complete pain to wind by hand.

SO, I suspect no chance for non commercial users.
 
Re: In conversation with -

[ QUOTE ]


A couple of years ago one trip operator was said to refuse to let other boats use the lock while he was working through; said to be "against my insurance policy".



[/ QUOTE ]

If he refused to put others through with him then he was in contravention of the terms on which he was issued with a key.
It is my understanding that commercial key holders were also expected to aid others through while they were passing through.

I have long been an advocate of some sort of arrangement allowing certain boaters a key. Commercials just did one days training on a lock and that was it.
 
Re: In conversation with -

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The point is that there is little justification for keys as at the beginning of next season there will only be three locks without OOHPP, Marlow, Whitchurch and Iffley, all of which, of course, are a complete pain to wind by hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah but the point which has been made on here several times recently, is that even at locks which have OoHPP, it is often switched off when us registration paying boaters need to go through the lock - we don't all stop moving at 9:00pm sharp!

Have always thought a swipe card type thingy to turn on the power, issued with the registration would be a good idea as they (the EA) would then get an idea of how many people use the locks when the keeper isn't around.

Darren.
 
Re: In conversation with -

[ QUOTE ]
Have always thought a swipe card type thingy to turn on the power, issued with the registration would be a good idea as they (the EA) would then get an idea of how many people use the locks when the keeper isn't around.

[/ QUOTE ]

Trouble is, thats only a small step away from expecting us to use a credit card...... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Re: In conversation with -

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Have always thought a swipe card type thingy to turn on the power, issued with the registration would be a good idea as they (the EA) would then get an idea of how many people use the locks when the keeper isn't around.

[/ QUOTE ]

Trouble is, thats only a small step away from expecting us to use a credit card...... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


Don't give them ideas! Having said that, with the summers we keep having, I'm starting to think that paying for the days we go out might be cheaper than paying an annual fee...
 
Re: In conversation with -

[ QUOTE ]


Don't give them ideas! Having said that, with the summers we keep having, I'm starting to think that paying for the days we go out might be cheaper than paying an annual fee...

[/ QUOTE ]


Might not be such a bad idea. Have often thought there should be more similarity with the road tax system. ie if you're off the road (river), you don't pay. Trouble is if fewer of us paid when on the hard, the remaining months would probably be more expensive.
 
Re: In conversation with -

[ QUOTE ]
Don't give them ideas! Having said that, with the summers we keep having, I'm starting to think that paying for the days we go out might be cheaper than paying an annual fee...

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahem - it <span style="color:blue"> would be in addition </span> to the registration fee, and as a service would attract VAT, as well as being expensive in order to recoup the setup costs.

Compare with the London Congestion Charge....
 
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