New Website for EA moorings

[ladyhamilton]

Wondered if anyone had seen this new website for registering and paying for the new system at EA moorings, plus info on a few more. Looks like a good idea?
http://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/about/

 

[alanch]

I hope this is not a way of pre booking an EA mooring.

 

[capnfishy]

Fear not, you can only pre-book the moorings at certain lock sites and only with the duty keeper. The 24 hour moorings referred to here are first come first served basis only.

 

[Big John]

Fear not, you can only pre-book the moorings at certain lock sites and only with the duty keeper. The 24 hour moorings referred to here are first come first served basis only.

I have not done a "dummy register " for a mooring but how does the payment to TVM get back to the EA?

As I understand it any boater who moors on the 24 hour EA moorings make a visit to the lock office, pay the amount due and receive an EA mooring ticket. Money straight to the EA and no middle man.

 

[Alan ashore]

I like this initiative, but I can't help wondering how we can be sure that TVM's role as registrar and collector is in fact recognised by owners and other enforcement agents? This is especially so in the case of some of those privately owned moorings listed that are listed with "Mooring owned by" blank!

A.

 

[Chris_d]

I like this initiative, but I can't help wondering how we can be sure that TVM's role as registrar and collector is in fact recognised by owners and other enforcement agents? This is especially so in the case of some of those privately owned moorings listed that are listed with "Mooring owned by" blank!

A.

Doesn't appear to be any payments involved its just a register that the moorings are free or occupied, so unless every river user uses it correctly its pretty much completely useless. A nice idea but never going to work unless the EA do it and invest in some serious technology with meters on the moorings or something. Personally I'm against booking moorings as it ruins the ethos and laid back character of the river, but I can see how its difficult for live a boards with large barges to find anywhere.

 

[Alan ashore]

Doesn't appear to be any payments involved

They certainly intend to be taking payments - e.g. from their Ts and Cs:

Thames Visitor Moorings (TVM) publish the information on this site in good faith and make no warranties as to its accuracy or completeness. Where TVM collect fees we do so on behalf of and with the explicit authority of the Landowner. The Master or person in charge of the vessel undertakes to register their presence within 15 minutes of their arrival and to leave the mooring before or on the expiry of the time specified in the Mooring Log. Any vessel found on a mooring without having registered on the TVM site will be deemed to have been present for 24 hours and charged accordingly.


Refund policy

The mooring fee will be refunded (nett of PayPal /Worldpay transaction fee) if TVM are notified by telephone before 3pm that the mooring is no longer required.

what's more in fact I just started a "dummy" registration and, indeed if you select a a second night on a "first night free" mooring, it takes you to a Worldpay checkout page. As an aside I detest Worldpay but that's irrelevant.

 

[Outinthedinghy]

I don't like the sound of it. I like mooring in unconventional spots where nobody else moors, for a day or two while on holiday.

I can see these places turning into bookable paid for moorings.

This will completely change the character of boating on the River.

I can see why it seen as an option but I don't think its a good one personally.

My 2p.

 

[Outinthedinghy]

Next thing will be locks operated by smartphones.

 

[Outinthedinghy]

Just noticed that the Ryepeck moorings are on the list. That's interesting as they had been prohibited due to squatter problems. Assuming that is above the Ryepeck residential on the sharp bend opposite Chertsey meads.

 

[Chris_d]

They certainly intend to be taking payments - e.g. from their Ts and Cs:

Thames Visitor Moorings (TVM) publish the information on this site in good faith and make no warranties as to its accuracy or completeness. Where TVM collect fees we do so on behalf of and with the explicit authority of the Landowner. The Master or person in charge of the vessel undertakes to register their presence within 15 minutes of their arrival and to leave the mooring before or on the expiry of the time specified in the Mooring Log. Any vessel found on a mooring without having registered on the TVM site will be deemed to have been present for 24 hours and charged accordingly.


Refund policy

The mooring fee will be refunded (nett of PayPal /Worldpay transaction fee) if TVM are notified by telephone before 3pm that the mooring is no longer required.

what's more in fact I just started a "dummy" registration and, indeed if you select a a second night on a "first night free" mooring, it takes you to a Worldpay checkout page. As an aside I detest Worldpay but that's irrelevant.

Not EA moorings though just a few private landowners.
Someone has put a lot of effort in this, but its just not going to work.

 

[Outinthedinghy]

I hope this is not a way of pre booking an EA mooring.

Certainly looks like it to me !!

 

[Outinthedinghy]

Completely unenforceable without a private army !

 

[Alan ashore]

Just noticed that the Ryepeck moorings are on the list. That's interesting as they had been prohibited due to squatter problems. Assuming that is above the Ryepeck residential on the sharp bend opposite Chertsey meads.

Ryepeck is listed at £100. The last sign I recall seeing there was £100 reduced to 60 if paid in 14 days. It's Spelthorne Council and I'd always assumed the 100/60 was really meant to be a fine rather than a mooring charge! In any case if the rule is still the same you would have thought TVM would be looking for only £60, as they are offering to take payment at the time of mooring!

But this brings me back to my earlier post - I can't help wondering exactly what correspondence has passed between SBC and TVM about this mooring.

 

[capnfishy]

Just to confirm and reassure, the EA 24 hr moorings are managed directly by EA staff, often checked daily but not always by duty keepers. The civil enforcement firm merely processes any admininistration and fines in connection with any overstaying that is recorded by EA staff. That's how the system was set up in the trial and it continues to this day.

You cannot pre book an EA 24 hr mooring apart from in exceptional circumstances, for example, the ADLS annual veterans gathering where Weybridge Mariners moorings are suspended for a day to allow access for the veterans.

As sophisticated as some technology might be to allow this, the EA has no appetite to change something that will generate only very modest income. Basically, the moorings enforcement process is EA labour intensive and there are not enough bodies on the ground to be effective.

 

[Big John]

They certainly intend to be taking payments - e.g. from their Ts and Cs:

Thames Visitor Moorings (TVM) publish the information on this site in good faith and make no warranties as to its accuracy or completeness. Where TVM collect fees we do so on behalf of and with the explicit authority of the Landowner. The Master or person in charge of the vessel undertakes to register their presence within 15 minutes of their arrival and to leave the mooring before or on the expiry of the time specified in the Mooring Log. Any vessel found on a mooring without having registered on the TVM site will be deemed to have been present for 24 hours and charged accordingly.


Refund policy

The mooring fee will be refunded (nett of PayPal /Worldpay transaction fee) if TVM are notified by telephone before 3pm that the mooring is no longer required.

what's more in fact I just started a "dummy" registration and, indeed if you select a a second night on a "first night free" mooring, it takes you to a Worldpay checkout page. As an aside I detest Worldpay but that's irrelevant.

So coming back to the point I made in #4 if you book on line a second night and the land/moorings are owned by the EA how do the EA get the second night fee?
TVM are no doing this for free!

I feel a committee of learned people have discussed this in a darkened room, none of them ever been on the river and thought what a good idea with out thinking it through.

Earlier in the year one of TVM's over enthusiastic operatives book a boater moored on the free 24hr moorings in Windsor opposite Salters office even though the boater had only been there for the afternoon.

Yes I agree there has to be a control in place to deter the long stayers who take up the moorings but this system has not been really thought out.

 

[Alan ashore]

So coming back to the point I made in #4 if you book on line a second night and the land/moorings are owned by the EA how do the EA get the second night fee?
TVM are no doing this for free!

The Cap'n can probably advise us - perhaps the duty keepers have direct online access to TVM's records of payment made? - that would seem the only efficient way for it to work.

A.

 

[capnfishy]

If only!

My information is that a different trial is coming but I have no detail yet. Looking at the proposal online suggests a fully staffed operation, like say in Windsor, with mooring fee collectors visiting daily. When I understand it better I will comment further.

 

[capnfishy]

And another thing, duty keepers have blackberries and fax machines so, unfortunately, no access to any IT systems within the EA never mind externally. There was a plan to introduce ipads but they don't float well or spread paint on bollards. But, the Wookie has been known to get his blackberry to skim four times across the weirstream!

 

[boatone]

There is indeed a new pilot scheme coming shortly. We were introduced, albeit briefly, to the TVM initiative at the recent TNUF meeting and I have asked for for a detailed formal statement which can be published here and elsewhere.