Speeding Boat An apology from the Owner

Richard Shead

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I have just received the following from the owner of the boat, this is his raw text and has not been edited in anyway.

Thank you.

Richard

I am the owner of the boat in the videos in question and yes the one who is driving the boat, I would like to say sorry for the speeding and apologise for any anger it has caused. I have now subsequently removed the videos from YouTube.
I am a loyal river user who pays my way and also knows the river rules including the 8 Kmh on the non tidal parts of the river, the boat is fully licensed and I respect other river users and wildlife around me.
I Feel I should not be penalised for my actions in the video as I myself have seen the bad consequences of speeding with a boat that crashed (Named: Two Rebels) this boat was a 36 ft Fairline and has a massive amount of power 2 x 250hp compared to my boat (Pictures can be provided)(Maybe “Oudrageous” knows them ) . Nothing was ever done about this incident, which could have killed all 8 people in the boat and killed many people on the river. (EA didn’t do anything or police)
I was also the Victim of my smaller rowing boat being stolen in the middle of the night a year ago and had to look for it on my own and Environment Agency and police yet again did nothing. I believe there are worse incidents happening on the river all the time that should be tackled before everyone starts complaining at us as it only happened once.
Ps Firefly625 <http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/2276088/page/0/vc/1> the boat you are talking about has probably been stolen, it’s a bunch of pikeys with no tax and the boat name rubbed out but it’s a “quicksilver 410 fish” with 15hp, oh and they have been nicking Fire Extinguisher off boats and letting them off, they also have sent the police helicopter after them which I saw the other day.
I hope that you accept my apology.


ps I wanted to sayn this to everyone on forum but i Have tried to join the forum but waiting for registration email.
 
I too recieved the email - so credit where credit is due to that person in doing that.
Although I would say that his apology would sound a bit better & more sincere if he didn't spend half it of it slagging of the EA and police!

...moaning about the EA should be reserved for this forum & it's members only
 
My sentiments exactly. The apology is all well and good but then spending a greater amount of time on pointing out how others have wronged and how the police/EA don't deal with them dilutes it to the point where it is unacceptable IMO.
 
I'd certainly prefer him to go into politics than become a commercial airline pilot, there is no way I would put my life in the hands of someone like him.
 
You may get there quicker!

We once had a student selling subscriptions for us at SBS, drank like a fish, hungover like a dog everyday but good at selling subscriptions.

Cut a long story short 4 years later sitting on a flight to Glasgow with Easy Jet who walks out the cockpit...yep the one and only student who used to sell subs for us!

Turns out he had his private license at 16 and that's all he ever wanted to do!

As for the apology I hear what you are saying but bear in mind he is probably only 16 / 17 clearly passionate about the river and is somewhat worried by the consequences of his actions.

And no I don't know him but personally I think he would actually be a valued member of the Thames Forum as young Chris has been in the other areas.

Not the best start or introduction I give you that but when I started here at IPC some 10 years ago I got shirty with a women who at the time thought was annoying me words were said (but we all apologised)....she is now the CEO.

Cheers
 
Not the Agencys job to go looking for his stolen boat. We can put out a message to the locks to keep an eye out ( if he even reported it ) but to think we would actively go searching for a small stolen dinghy is just silly.

'Two Rebels' thing is still ongoing , things don't happen overnight.

Trying to justify his actions by pointing out the failings of others is nonsense.

So , lets say someone nicked the stereo out of his car , that would mean it was ok to drive at 100mph past a school would it ?

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
 
Like many of you I am a father and in my case to a 17 year old lad, he has and is proving challenging and has dome some stupid stuff as well. As has almost everyone of us in our lives. My son is at heart a good lad and when the error of his ways is pointed out to him, he will apologise, but always with a "it was not just me or it is not just me or...... just like the lad with the Shetland.

Anyway this lad has apologised, removed the video and he has probably had and rightly, a bit of a scare > Hopefully having learned and thought about the "what could have happened" he will continue to enjoy his boat and the river for many years to come. At least he is licensed and paying towards the river unlike many supposed more mature river users with unlicensed boats.

Let's give him a break, welcome him to the forum and hope he uses the vast experience of all you guys on here to go boating. He has certainly already managed to up the number of postings to the forum :-)

Now time to plan my boating weekend I think
 
Well he has come forward and admitted his fault, lets hope he has learnt from his mistake. I think we must have broken some rule or law in our youth and how many of us have broken the road speed limits in this last week and got away with it?
At his age if my father had heard about the boat speeding I would have recieved a good glump around the ear and I can tell you that would have more effect than any speeding fine.

I think it's us the elders that need to get amongst the youth and offer some guidance as this is sadly lacking in a lot of homes and schools. In my youth the police came to my school and tought us road safety, we had to take a cycling proficency test before being allowed to ride a bike to school. The police would call in each term and check all the bikes for poor maintenance, plus we were taught bike maintenance in metal work class. This all led on to I think making me a better person and gaining a lot in life.

Let us get to know this youngster and steer him to a better life, if he comes on the board I will try and get to know him better.

I think he can't be that bad as he's got a boat!!!!!!!!
 
Apology, diverting blame or whatever, at least the guy has fessed up to being in the wrong. Having made the effort to make a public apology, maybe he will be more reticent in future of doing the same again although I'm pretty sure he won't post it on Utube again.

By obtaining the apology, I think we can take heart as to the power of the forum and the knowledge that there is a value to peer pressure.

Give the guy a break after all, who hasn't been over the speed limit in a car or boat at any time in their lives?
 
White man speak with forked tongue...

He's sorry all right, but sorry he's going to get fined rather than been a bad boy.
It's like the longs who get caught speeding by the police who are always sorry too.
 
Is all this cynicism no more than a deep rooted envy that certain forum boats won't actually go as fast as the craft used as the accessory to the crime and so instilling a certain sentiment of ineptitude? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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Let's give him a break, welcome him to the forum and hope he uses the vast experience of all you guys on here to go boating. He has certainly already managed to up the number of postings to the forum

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Here here, totally agree...


to be honest, apart from finding it quite amusing that he had put himself on Youtube I didn't really think his offences warranted quite such a witch hunt, I started to feel a bit uncomfortable about it all.... glade we can move on.

BTW, thanks for confirmation to what I had guessed, in that it is our pikey friends who are cruising round the Weybridge area at high speed....
 
OK! I accept he is sorry... sorry he was silly enough to put himself on offer. Had he got away with it he would be bragging his head off.

As to punishment. It really isn't up to us this is the EA's decision whether to issue proceedings.

My inclination would be make him clean everyone's boat over the coming summer and let that be the end of it.
 
I am really grateful to you Byron. Without you, they would all be telling me I'm the grumpy old man of the forum ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I agree with you that it will be up to the sages of the EA to decide whether this goes any further. For my part I was happy to see the youngs man's apology and I am prepared to believe it was sincere. I remember being a young tyke myself many moons ago.....nuff said.
 
You would allow him to touch your boat?? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
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well it might benefit from a damn good thrashing /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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Who might??

Be very careful, the thought police are watching and listening. Trust me.
 
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the sages of the EA

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Funniest thing I heard all day /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Assuming you can find one, they will most likely stick a Yellow Spot on him!
 
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