NSL operated moorings

[Actionmat]

NSL operated moorings, parking and DVLA fines. One big problem if you want to pay for an extra night on the Thames - if you're a Barclays customer, you can't!
Barclays blocks online transactions to NSL as the fragrant operators are flagged as fraudulant!
This is due to the high proportion of stolen cards used to make payments to NSL, so Barclays have stopped it.
Other banks may have followed suit, I can only speak for my own

In the words of a certain tabloid journalist): "you couldn't make it up".

 

[boatone]

The NSL logo on the EA 24 hour moorings signs is historical and there has been no association for several years. The only company providing mooring management services to the EA at the present time is Thames Visitor Moorings (TVM) whose credit/debit card transactions are handled through Worldpay. There are no NSL transactions.

 

[Actionmat]

Their logo is very prominent, there must be an association, surely? Local river users around here certainly seem to think so.

Edit: from gov.uk
Thames Visitor Moorings will assist Environment Agency staff to carry out spot checks to identify any non-compliance, details of which will be passed by the Environment Agency to to NSL Ltd for them to act on./I]

So NSL are the prosecutors and debt collectors. Previously known as NCP and condemned from Watchdog to courtroom for dodgy practices.

They're not doing a very good job in Kingston. The same boats have been on the 24hr moorings by the railway bridge for years, despite TVM/NSL/EA putting up new signage threatening £100 fines. A lot of liveaboards around here play cat and mouse but that lot won't move, for fear of losing 'their space.

 

[boatone]

Edit: from gov.uk
Thames Visitor Moorings will assist Environment Agency staff to carry out spot checks to identify any non-compliance, details of which will be passed by the Environment Agency to to NSL Ltd for them to act on./I]

They're not doing a very good job in Kingston. The same boats have been on the 24hr moorings by the railway bridge for years, despite TVM/NSL/EA putting up new signage threatening £100 fines. A lot of liveaboards around here play cat and mouse but that lot won't move, for fear of losing 'their space.

The info you quote on .gov.uk is out of date and TVM pass directly to the EA if enforcement action needed. At least two of the boats you mention at Kingston were towed away recently.

There has been considerable enforcement activity in the Kingston/Sunbury reaches recently and the EA seem to be making a real effort to clean up the aggravation issues. Many wrecks have been removed between Sunbury and Hurst Park, several boats have been seized and others crushed and destroyed. Happy to acknowledge that significant action is now taking place although some particularly difficult issues can't be sorted overnight - that doesn't mean nothing is happening.

From EA Harbourmaster Facebook Page yesterday:
Our officers returned to Cherry Orchard Gardens in #westmolesey last week, following up on the notices we served the previous week, ordering owners of wrecks and boats moored to our land without our consent to remove them.
We destroyed and removed 8 wrecks and will now look to recover the cost of carrying out this operation from the boat owners, thereby protecting the income we receive from boats registration charges and government for other aspects of the navigation service we provide.
We also towed away a further 12 boats. These are being held by us at a secure location for collection by their owners, but we will not release them unless the boats are properly registered with us (which requires them to have passed a Boat Safety Scheme examination and be insured) and have a bona fide mooring to go to, or are taken out of the river. We will also be invoicing the owners for our cost of the removal operation.
In addition, we checked a further 75 boats in the Molesey to Sunbury area. Of these, 16 were not registered and are now subject to enforcement action which could result in prosecution; 16 more were issued with 'Directions to Move' notices as they are moored to our land without our consent. This makes it a legal requirement for them to remove their boat or face further enforcement action.
We also served 'wreck' notices on 2 more sunken boats, giving the owners notice that if they do not remove them within a reasonable period of time, we will do so ourselves and recover our costs from them.
The 75 boat registration checks carried out brings the total carried out across the river since the start of October to 1088, of which 111 have resulted in enforcement notices being served. This is in addition to the checks carried out as part of routine patrols and specific operations since the early part of the year and equates to a further £55,000 of boat registration income which will now be collected and reinvested in theriver.
Last week's operation was carried out with the support of Surrey Police and Elmbridge Borough Council, for which we are grateful.

 

[Actionmat]

Thanks for the clarification, Tony.

However, I can say with certainty that the moorings by the railway bridge are still full of the same boats and you should see the moorings to the rear of John Lewis(Kingston not EA), full to the brim, two deep and not a visible licence between them.

It's that time of yet again, when the licence renewal arrives and I have to convince Mrs Actionmat that 'if you can't beat them join them' isn't the done thing!

 

[boatone]

The grass grows, we cut it, and a week later it needs cutting again.

My neighbours have now laid astroturf - they don't need to cut it but a wash and scrub every weekend seems to now be the norm.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions ........

 

[Actionmat]

Well put Tony.

I'll have to pop down there with my camera, as I'm sure that one of the boats that was towed away is back there. Rather like the Slumboat that the EA towed up river and came back down again. The ceremonial Admiral B.Russel must be modelling himself on the Grand old Duke of York.