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canal and River Licence
Paul Davies made this Freedom of Information request to British Waterways Board
British Waterways Board did not have the information requested.
From: Paul Davies
11 October 2011
Dear British Waterways Board,
How many Pleasure Boat licences were issued to PB's on the canal
network between 1971 and 1976? Please do not include PB licences
issued to PB's on BW managed riverways
Please also detail charges for these PB licences.
Kind regards,
Paul Davies
From: Information Request
British Waterways Board
12 October 2011
Dear Mr Davies,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I understand that you wish to know how many pleasure boat licences were issued to boats NOT on British Waterways managed navigations between 1971 and 1976, along with the charges for these licences.
Please note that British Waterways would only hold information related to licences issued on navigations it is responsible for. For licensing information related to other Navigation Authorities I would recommend that you contact those authorities directly.
Kind regards,
Sarina Young
Customer Service Co-Ordinator
British Waterways | The Kiln | Mather Road | Newark | NG24 1FB | Tel: 01636 675740 | Mob: 07785 295 274 | Fax: 01636 705584 |
Find out more about the exciting new waterways charity for England and Wales here http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/charity
Follow the BW Customer Service team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BWCustServ
show quoted sections
Paul Davies left an annotation (23 October 2011)
Nigel. A River only Perit is a sub-division of a PB licence. Biddy
From: Paul Davies
9 November 2011
Dear British Waterways,
i notice that the deadline for your response has now passed. As
required by law, please respond or explain why you are unable to.
Kind regards,
Paul Davies
From: Information Request
British Waterways Board
11 November 2011
Dear Mr Davies,
Thank you for your e-mail.
You made a request to BW on 11th October 2011 for the following information:
"How many Pleasure Boat licences were issued to PB's on the canal network between 1971 and 1976? Please do not include PB licences issued to PB's on BW managed riverways".
You will also know, because it is included in this e-mail chain, that we responded to this request the following day, 12th October 2011.
Our full and final response, along with some helpful advice, was:
" Please note that British Waterways would only hold information related to licences issued on navigations it is responsible for. For licensing information related to other Navigation Authorities I would recommend that you contact those authorities directly".
Kind regards,
Sarina Young
Customer Service Co-Ordinator
British Waterways | The Kiln | Mather Road | Newark | NG24 1FB | Tel: 01636 675740 | Mob: 07785 295 274 | Fax: 01636 705584 |
In April 2012 the canals and rivers that British Waterways cares for and maintains in England and Wales will become part of a new charity called the Canal & River Trust.
Want to know more? Go to - www. waterscape.com/findoutmore
Follow the BW Customer Service team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BWCustServ
show quoted sections
From: Paul Davies
11 November 2011
Hi Sarina,
My concerns are genuine.
As you may know, the 1971 BW Act requires Pleasure Boats navigating
riverways defined in schedule 1 of the Act to be licenced. Prior to
the introduction of the BW 1976 General Canal Byelaws. The
licencing of Pleasure Boats navigating canals was not a requirement
I am worried that, between 1971 and 1976, BW have used section 43
of the Transport Act to demand licences for Pleasure Boats
navigating the canal network where no licence was required.
Additionally, I remain concerned that BW's current licencing regime
incorrectly demands payment for a licence under section 43 and this
is incorrect where a river only licence is required under 1971, and
a canal licence is required under 1976. Section 43 simply enables
amendments to legislation, and the primary focus of s.43 and the
Transport Act is vessels used for transportation. 99% of Pleasure
Boats are not used in this way, but as second homes for retired
people to live on, or as a primary place of residence and/or
leisure. In this way, section 43 cannot be engaged in isolation,
but in relation to subsequent legislation, and in reference to its
primary meaning.
In order to assess if BW have, between 1971 and 1976, unlawfully
demanded money from PB owners without liability, I seek
clarification of the logic used by BW to licence vessels and
request a proper and full response to my original, and overdue, FoI
request.
I trust this clarifies my request.
Kind regards
Paul Davies
From: Paul Davies
8 December 2011
Dear British Waterways Board,
As BW have unlawfully demanded licence fees from boaters since 1976
(and probably 1971) , I believe BW are indeed guilty of a
multi-million £ fraud. Will BW now agree to cease acting in such an
unlawful way and repay to boaters monies illegally demanded?
Yours faithfully,
Paul Davies
From: Information Request
British Waterways Board
9 December 2011
Dear Mr Davies,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I understand that your e-mail below is not a request under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The FOIA does not require an authority to provide explanations, comments, or justification or any other information unless it is already on record, nor to enter into other correspondence. Neither does the FOIA require a public authority to create records in order to reply to a request for information.
Kind regards,
Sarina Young
Customer Service Co-Ordinator
British Waterways | The Kiln | Mather Road | Newark | NG24 1FB | Tel: 01636 675740 | Mob: 07785 295 274 | Fax: 01636 705584 |
In April 2012 the canals and rivers that British Waterways cares for and maintains in England and Wales will become part of a new charity called the Canal & River Trust.
Want to know more? Go to - www. waterscape.com/findoutmore
Follow the BW Customer Service team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BWCustServ
show quoted sections
From: Paul Davies
9 December 2011
Dear brutish waterways,
May I refer you to my original foi request:
begins - How many Pleasure Boat licences were issued to PB's on the
canal network between 1971 and 1976? Please do not include PB
licences issued to PB's on BW managed riverways
Please also detail charges for these PB licences.
-ends.
I believe the request above is valid and bw must therefore respond.
Supplimentary messages simply inform bw of my thinking process, and
I agree bw have no obligation to make comment. I cannot understand
your resistance nor your evasive denial.
Kind regards
Paul Davies
From: Information Request
British Waterways Board
13 December 2011
Dear Mr Davies,
Thank you for your e-mail of the 9th December and for clarifying your original request. I am sorry for any confusion.
I can confirm that British Waterways does not hold the information that you have requested below regarding them number of:
"Pleasure Boat licences that were issued to PB's on the canal network between 1971 and 1976? Please do not include PB licences issued to PB's on BW managed riverways. Please also detail charges for these PB licences."
If we haven’t reasonably met your expectations in relation to a request for information or you believe we may not have acted in accordance with the above legislation you should write in the first instance to Kelly Radley Head of Customer Relations, 64 Clarendon Road, Watford, Herts WD17 1DA outlining your concerns and asking for a review to be undertaken. Your correspondence will be acknowledged and a review of your case will be undertaken by one of British Waterways’ directors.
Should you remain unsatisfied by the response you receive you are able to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx.
Kind regards,
Sarina Young
Customer Service Co-Ordinator
British Waterways | The Kiln | Mather Road | Newark | NG24 1FB | Tel: 01636 675740 | Mob: 07785 295 274 | Fax: 01636 705584 |
In April 2012 the canals and rivers that British Waterways cares for and maintains in England and Wales will become part of a new charity called the Canal & River Trust.
Want to know more? Go to - www. waterscape.com/findoutmore
Follow the BW Customer Service team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BWCustServ
show quoted sections
From: Paul Davies
13 December 2011
Dear Information Request,
well, you don't say...
Yours sincerely,
Paul Davies
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Nigel Moore left an annotation (13 October 2011)
The problem with giving you an answer, however, is likely to be because, for reasons of their own, BW log all such boats as “continuous cruisers”. Bizarrely, this classification even gets applied to “portable unpowered” craft carried home and parked in a cupboard!
So if you have paid your £35 for such a licence, and decide not to renew the following year, you are likely to get an unpleasant reminder that you will be stuck with a £285 bill when next renewing, owing to the “late fee”. Theoretically, I suppose, you could get even get a “Section 8” through the post if you ignored the reminder.
However, your question was straightforward enough as I understand it, you just didn’t use the correct nomenclature - “Rivers only” licences are called “Certificates”. You did not ask for licences issued to boats “NOT on BW managed navigations”, you asked for licences issued to boats “on the canal network”, excluding only those issued with BW's "Rivers Only" Certificates under the 1971 Act.
Clarify that you want to know how many licences were issued for Pleasure Boats on BW managed canals before that became a legal requirement by virtue of the 1976 Byelaws – which I suspect is the burden of your enquiry.
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