I've never met the guy, so I don't know how he got where he is. It's likely that bad decisions were involved, but being born middle class and comfortable, then getting a decent education gives people a far better chance in life than being raised on a sink estate by a drug addict mother.
How old is this guy? Sink estates as you refer to them didn't use to be that way. Nor was everyone born middle class.
Negligent but not deliberate. Taking your yacht in tow in a rowing tender is wildly over optimistic in Newtown, the tide runs close to 3kn where he is anchored.
Diógenes syndrome?
For me, just not allowing your uninsured old grp boat to sink in a National Trust owned, AONB and SSSI would be a damned good start. You’d think that the boating community were mostly a good lot, but we’ve had 2 uninsured boat dumps quite close together, time and location. If he was in a camper van in an NT car park, he’d have long since been asked as strongly as needed to move along.
"Full regulation" is a hugely wide and ill defined term.
Even that is probably not necessary. Every harbour authority could simply insist on suitable insurance or you don't park here. That could surely include anchoring in their waters. I'm surprised that anyone can anchor up a river or inlet that is part of the NT without some sort of supervision.
He was in Newtown all of last summer and none of his mates turned up. He was also in a much location much closer to Shalfleet.
Sounds simple but how would this be achieved in practice? There’s no chance of legislation for such a rare occurrence. If a local bye-law, how would enforcement happen and who would pay for that? I’m genuinely interested in knowing the answer.
Exactly the same folks who don’t bother with/can’t afford to insure generally would not insure for wreck removal.
Problem with compulsory insurance is how do you police it? It would only work if all boats are registered, and (like cars) it is your responsibility until you can prove it isn't - that's a whole heap of bureaucracy that we don't have in place (and would cost a heap of money). Even if you put those rules in place they are pointless unless there's a high chance of getting caught flouting them, which would mean far far more patrolling than is currently done (nil in my part of the country) - more money. Then, assuming all that happens, you'll get thousands of boats abandoned on day one as people decide their wreck isn't worth the bother, so you're back to square one - except with a sudden glut of abandoned wrecks, with nobody responsible (or funded) for clearing them up. Meanwhile all law-abiding boaters have been put to expense and hassle.
