Thames Jubilee Pageant now charging boats to take part!!!!!

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OldManRiver

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So now participants are emailed that they will have to pay £10 to take part as it looks like the organisers stuffed up and now have to spend too much money for security. What a joke!! What is next - selling tickets so you are allowed to watch it from the river bank??
 
Yet in The Daily Telegraph this week, Lord Salisbury said that many large firms with river frontage are holding corporate junkets to watch the flotilla but are refusing to pay a penny towards it, including (allegedly) British Airways and Unilever. Yet the flotilla vessels are now to pay to be watched.

But then the organizers are fully funding our fuel, food, lost income etc for taking part in the event and its previous rehearsals, plus giving us a load of free merchandise from their expensive souvenir catalogue (all of this is bitter irony before anybody jumps up and down). Plus the abundant shore power and ablution facilities in West India Dock (more irony: both are to be non-existent).

I will not be surprised if the £10 (£100 for large commercial vessels) turns out to be the thin end of the wedge now that they have us as a captive market, with guests booked and looking forward to it etc. What next - charge to use the water taxis, charge for the security bracelets, charge for the compulsory pennant?
 
For the record here's the email...

Accreditation and Capacities Update

We are delighted that you will be taking part in the River Pageant on Sunday 3rd June to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. It’s going to be a wonderful and historic event and we would like to take this opportunity once again to t hank you for agreeing to take part – and for registering yourself and your crew on our online accreditation system.

We are very mindful that your participation in the Pageant involves more than simply turning up on the day. We are all doing a huge amount of preparation to ensure that the Pageant meets the necessary requirements to make it a safe as well as a glorious event - and we would like to thank you for all your efforts in this respect, too.

As we’re sure you will understand, security and safety for the Pageant are absolutely paramount. Due to increased security requirements, we are now obliged to accredit everyone taking part in the Pageant itself. This will result in an increase in administration costs for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation and we’re therefore asking for a small contribution of £10 per vessel (inclusive of VAT) from all boat owners. For commercial Class V vessels, we are asking for a contribution of £100 per vessel (inclusive of VAT). We are so sorry to have to ask for any contribution – however small - when you are already making such an effort to participate. But we hope you will understand that as the event will be a launch pad for an important charitable initiative, we need to do everything we can to deal with unanticipated costs.

To simplify the process, we will collect the contribution during the scrutineering and accreditation process on the day, with the exception of Class V boats which will be invoiced in advance . VAT receipts will be provided on request.

The Accreditation process explained

Masters are responsible for ensuring that all crew and passengers on their vessels have completed the Metropolitan Police Risk Assessment form. Initially these were available as a word document that could be emailed to Project Kraken. Subsequently, we have migrated this over to an online web based system for all additional submissions. We have just undergone a process of data entry of all the submitted forms into the online system. The information submitted will be available to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for a complete risk assessment - and all data will be deleted by the 8th June in accordance with the Data Protection Act. The system will allow us to produce guest lists and passenger manifests for all vessels, so it fulfils a dual safety function. During the month of May we will be mailing out to all people registered in our system a “Boarding Card” which they need to present with their photo ID to collect their accreditation. This will be issued at scrutineering - or the water taxi points - and will be in the form of a wristband.

More information about collecting your crew and passenger accreditation will follow in the coming weeks.

Vessel Capacities

For vessels taking part in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, capacity on the day is an important issue. Back in May 2011, the Pageant’s Marine Selection Panel (the MSP: which includes representatives from the Pageant Foundation, the Port of London Authority and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency) agreed that every vessel taking part – apart from commercially-registered Class V vessels - would be restricted to the vessel’s certified capacity (if less than 14) or a maximum capacity of 14, including two crew members. This limit is consistent with the MCA regulations . Each master is responsible for ensuring that the vessel is not overloaded or endangering passengers’ safety. During the marshalling process, crew and passenger headcounts will be taken as part of the normal Port of London Authority (PLA) reporting procedure – not least so that Search & Rescue services are aware of the number of people on board. Any vessel found to have exceeded the MSP capacity will be unable to proceed in the Pageant. We thought it was important to make this point clear now, rather than have any confusion or disappointment on the day.

Some boat owners participating in the Pageant have questioned the capacities allocated to them. In response, the MSP has undertaken a further review of all vessels’ capacities. During this review process, the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation – as Pageant organiser – was represented, and we can confirm that the review was completed by consistently applying the MSP’s criteria. All reviews by the MSP have considered capacity on the grounds of safety – particularly bearing in mind that most people on board would want to be up on deck to watch and experience the day - especially when passing the Royal Barge. Passengers on many foredecks and cabin roofs would obstruct the master’s view of boats in front and around the vessel. It is imperative that the masters have a clear view ahead and to the sides when navigating in a procession of 1,000 boats, enabling them to maintain the Pageant’s formation and to navigate safely. With so many boats so close together on a confined river, the recovery of just one person overboard could disrupt the entire Pageant. It is for these reasons that we do not wish to take any unnecessary chances.

The review is now complete and all individual vessel owners are being informed of any changes to capacity. Confirmed and final capacities will also have been made available in the on-line accreditation system. We strongly recommend that all masters use the login details provided to them to check that all their crew and passengers are registered on the system.

We very much hope that this will be one of the last notes we will need to send to you regarding the security and safety logistics surrounding the event. We are conscious that you have kindly agreed to participate in a glorious and celebratory event, which is why we are trying to deal with these sorts of issues now – and well before the great day itself!

Thank you for your consideration in reading this note and do please log on to our system to complete any outstanding administration this week.
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PeterBoater said:
Yet in The Daily Telegraph this week, Lord Salisbury said that many large firms with river frontage are holding corporate junkets to watch the flotilla but are refusing to pay a penny towards it, including (allegedly) British Airways and Unilever.
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British Airways does not have a river frontage! :confused:
 
Steve Clayton said:
Dearie me, first rule of security is need to know. I now know a great deal about the accreditation process.! Can I ask whether the email was security classified in any way?
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No it was sent to everybody.

The accreditation process isn't really that secretive. It started off being called a "Security Risk Assessment" so I suspect this is just an "Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau Check" and not much more.

Employers, charities etc have to pay to carry these out so the charge is pretty reasonable.

CJL
 
CJL said:
Employers, charities etc have to pay to carry these out so the charge is pretty reasonable.
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Are you an apologist for the Pageant? how on earth does that have anything to do with it.

Not when people are paying and giving up their own time to take part already. Not like they they made this charge clear up front.
 
Just refuse to pay, They will be the ones with the embarrassment if they just have the security vessels following the Barge
 
PeterBoater said:
Yet in The Daily Telegraph this week, Lord Salisbury said that many large firms with river frontage are holding corporate junkets to watch the flotilla but are refusing to pay a penny towards it, including (allegedly) British Airways and Unilever. Yet the flotilla vessels are now to pay to be watched.
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Don't know what the problem is.... after all, thats exactly the situation we put up with on the non-tidal - we pay and others watch or use the river without contributing - gongoozlers, swimmers, walkers, cyclists, etc etc. Local authorities and riparian owners collect mooring fees from us but don't pass anything to the EA.

We motor boaters must learn to take more pride in our altruism ! :D
 
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CJL said:
No it was sent to everybody.

The accreditation process isn't really that secretive. It started off being called a "Security Risk Assessment" so I suspect this is just an "Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau Check" and not much more.

Employers, charities etc have to pay to carry these out so the charge is pretty reasonable.

CJL
Click to expand...

Enhanced CRB checks are free to charities.
 
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