Please spend the next two minutes helping to fight back!...

Perhaps those that sign petitions such as this should recognise that there are always two sides (at least!) to the story. Just a few misconceptions put out by the supporters of the petition. CRT is NOT a charity - it is a trust set up by the government to manage the waterways in such a way that it eventually becomes self financing rather than being funded out of general taxation. The marinas are operated by a commercial company and they are not (in the main) residential, so people who keep their boats there do not have any housing rights. There is nothing new in this as the arrangements were no different under the predecessor BWB.

The complainant has taken his case to both the Ombudsman and the court, and both have found in favour of the operator, which has acted in accordance with its legal obligations.

While the complainant and his supporters might like the situation to be different, the likelihood of any change in status is very small. The current structure for managing the waterways properties was set by government very recently with the transfer to the CRT so it is hardly surprising that the operating company is enforcing its T&Cs within the law.
 
Hi all,
I have signed the petition. My only question is WHY IS THIS NOT IN THE MAIN READER TO READER FORUM.
Apologies for the shouting, but this requires maximum publicity, I would suggest that to achieve this it is moved to the main forum, and a greater audience. Given the subject matter I would think most users of this resource would be sympathetic.

Craig
 
"Despite being exemplary residents and genuine pillars of the community at Poplar Dock Marina for fourteen years"

Liveaboard Link:
There's the clue mate..it's about liveaboards. You can always re-cook it and pad it out with some details about cruising, but I gather the folks mentioned don't actually do much of that.
 
Besonders said:
Hi all,
I have signed the petition. My only question is WHY IS THIS NOT IN THE MAIN READER TO READER FORUM.
Apologies for the shouting, but this requires maximum publicity, I would suggest that to achieve this it is moved to the main forum, and a greater audience. Given the subject matter I would think most users of this resource would be sympathetic.

Craig
Click to expand...

Perhaps because this has little to do with boating as the issue is cast as an eviction from a home, which just happens to be a boat. More properly the protester is making himself homeless by not being prepared to abide by the conditions governing his rental of space to moor his boat.
 
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Tranona said:
Perhaps because this has little to do with boating as the issue is cast as an eviction from a home, which just happens to be a boat. More properly the protester is making himself homeless by not being prepared to abide by the conditions governing his rental of space to mooring his boat.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tranona, for a semblance of level-headedness - what does Kipling say about losing heads?
 
Rather than a 2 minute knee jerk reaction, I've spent a few days thinking about this.

I/we don't know the detail of the case, but an Ombudsman has heard much more than we have, as has The Court, and both have decided against these nice old people.

On the canalworld forum there are some who think they are vexatious, although not strictly vexatious litigants.

So I won't be signing the petition - there is enough doubt for me to think they have probably been given plenty of chances, and a year at reduced rates, ( at current prices), so it's time to move on.
 
Fitzroy said:
I knew this couple from years back when I was a student living aboard in the then new Poplar Dock.

You couldn't meet a more pleasant and hard working couple. Their plight speaks for itself.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitio...utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

Please - just have a quick look - and sign.

Thanks for your time.
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Signed it but have learned my lesson . Regret it now because I am now getting spam emails from change.org! had 5 since last night no doubt they will multiply
 
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Yes, I cross-posted in the PBO forum, too.

I'm also getting emails from change.org. I deleted them without reading (they can hopefully be switched off at a later date). But it's a shame I deleted them, as I missed this (thankfully quoted as a response in the PBO thread (http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?387994-Their-old-project-MFV-Wylam):

JumbleDuck said:
I've just had this email from change.org:


Progress Report : Our Campaign to Save Rod & Annie from Eviction

Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who has signed the petition to save Rod & Annie. In less than a week, more than 1500 people have signed (still growing by the day), and this is a progress report on what's been achieved in such a short, hectic few days.

Tuesday : After we issued a press release on Tuesday, the ball began to roll slowly at first. Baroness Jenny Jones (Green Member of London Assembly) tweeted, “@GreenJennyJones : Boaters unite to support @BoatersRightsUK against the dastardly BWML the dysfunctional arm of @CanalRiverTrust !!”

Then Narrowboat World (1) ran the story, linking it to the 38 Degrees campaign and adding, “With over 5,000 having signed a petition asking CaRT to ‘Stop evicting disabled elderly and vulnerable boat dwellers', the Derek Newton letter represents a spectacular own goal.”

The topic even reached a Crystal Palace Fan Forum (2), where the Palace fans generously showed their support.

The comments sections of various boating publications began to fill up with discussion. There were, initially, a few negative comments as people took the Termination Notice at face value. Neighbours and supporters of Rod and Annie spent a lot of time pointing out that :

Rod is not a 'serial complainer' – he has simply followed the complaints process that BWML advertises (3) as a benefit of its marina berths. CRT has a policy for 'persistent complainants' (4) – BWML's Managing Director seems unaware of this.

Rod is not “aggressive” - if he had been so, would BWML management not have some documented proof of previous warnings? Would they have renewed his mooring contract in January 2014 if they were in fear for their lives from this “aggressive” 75 year old heart patient ? Could this be BWML trying to manage comments about their own aggressive staff in this Yachting and Boating World forum (5) ?

Rod is not trying to avoid paying his mooring fee. He has paid a full year's fees in advance.

Wednesday : Following our public pressure on CRT via social media, BWML issued a statement (6) that the eviction would go ahead as a “necessary business decision.”
Rod replied with a personal statement (7) : “Basically Mr. Bramhall’s statement to the CRT has avoided most of the key issues. This is nothing new...“
This was followed by a further statement from Poplar Dock Community Association (8) :
“...Residential boaters are unique in that they have no statutory protection, and do not have recourse to independent bodies such as the Residential Property Tribunal. This is a fact that BWML has exploited in introducing terms and fees to berth holders that would be explicitly illegal if applied to other forms of property...”

Friday : Then there was a dim chink of light. BWML issued a Media Statement (9), concluding, “If he wants to remain moored at this location then we would need his written assurance that he would stick to the agreement he has signed with us, just as all our other customers do.”

But this introduced new allegations against Rod. BWML now were saying that he has been “consistently in breach of... ...the terms and conditions.” The goalposts move again, and BWML simply ignore the uncomfortable questions that they can't answer. Welcome to our world, where we're constantly trying to get answers from a management which treats our genuine questions with contempt – because it can. Just so long as we keep paying up.

While we were fighting to save Rod and Annie, yet another eviction case (10) came to light.
Narrowboat World (11) again saw the big picture. “A million pounds worth of bad publicity that due to the longevity of stories on the internet will turn up again and again whenever someone does a web search on the 'canal and river trust'.”

Despite the conditional reprieve for Rod and Annie, questions remain unanswered, further allegations have been made by BWML to shore up a weak case. If BWML can evict Rod and Annie simply for following the prescribed complaints procedure, all their customers live with a '28 day' cloud hanging over us. BWML customers from other marinas have contacted us in support, but they are so fearful of reprisals and retribution from BWML that they will not identify their real names. This is the trading arm of a charity, not Stalin's regime of control through fear.

After 2 years of BWML deafness to our genuine concerns, we again call for an urgent meeting with Richard Parry, CEO of the Canal and River Trust. We desperately want to move forward in a spirit of co-operation and mutual respect, but cannot waste any more time negotiating with an intransigent and bullying BWML senior management who refuse to answer for their broken promises and maladministration.

Again, thank you all for your support.
Friends and neighbours of Rod and Annie

Links :
1. http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/news-flash/6634-more-vulnerable-evictions
2. http://www.cpfc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=250717
3. http://www.bwml.co.uk/customer-info
4. http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/conta...t/unreasonably-persistent-complainants-policy
5. http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?375579-London-a-No-Go-zone
6. http://imgur.com/To9HLIq
7. http://wylam.boatersrights.org/a-statement-from-rod-taylor/
8. http://wylam.boatersrights.org/pdca-response-to-crtbwml-statement-19214/
9. http://www.bwml.co.uk/news/media_statement_21_february_2014
10. http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/news-flash/6639-another-vulnerable-eviction
11. http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/leatest/6640-sending-the-wrong-message​
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