John Royal asked me to publish this for him as he has no computer but he wanted this story to be publicly aired. Before you read the attached correspondence just consider these points:

1. In storage, wooden boats dry out and shrink. Put back into the water they leak profusely whilst the wood expands back to its wet condition.
2. They need to be monitored whilst this is happening to avoid them sinking.
3. There are literally hundreds of wooden boats on the Broads.

John puts his wooden sailing boat in the water on the river frontage of his own private property to take up before he rigs it, as he has been doing every year since he can remember. Except that this year, along comes a Broads Authority Ranger and gives him a ticket

He promptly paid his toll after receiving a Notice of Contravention (a what?) but he is understandably unhappy. This is exacerbated by the claim that he has no Boat Safety Certificate.

4. His boat does not require a Boat Safety Certificate until 2009, if at all.
5. John Royal is a law abiding citizen who like generations of his family before him has lived and worked on the Broads.

This is a typed copy of his handwritten letter to the BA.

Quote

Dear Sir,
How sad, how terribly sad, that the once proud and respected profession of River Inspector should have degraded to that of water-borne Traffic Warden, thereby attracting the public disdain and resentment reserved for such odious occupations.

The old, proper River Inspectors regarded those of us who live and work on, or by, the rivers as partners in their endeavours, exchanging information (and scuttlebutt) over a cup of coffee, or even (perish the thought) a small glass of beer, seeing us as trusted extra pair of ears and eyes when they were elsewhere. Since their demise, and the advent of the new wiver-wanger the personal element is gone in fact I have no idea who is on my patch, either by name or appearance. A launch occasionally passes by, usually with a number of people closed up in the rarefied atmosphere of the cabin, apparently oblivious to what is going on around them, and certainly reluctant to form a working relationship with the locals, perhaps through fear of contamination in the form of humanity and humility, neither of which appear to be in the Authority vocabulary.

I presume that the Ticket struck onto my boat was issued by an untrained volunteer, since I would hope that no employee of ours would be so unobservant and inaccurate as to state on a quasi-legal document that it was moored at Wayford Bridge, which might be seen to imply that it was illegally moored on the public staithe there. In fact, unless someone stole it, took it up to the Bridge, and returned it to me, it has not moved since I launched it and left it to take-up (it being a very old teak hull) on my private mooring outside my water house.

A professional would have noted that it is not yet rigged for use, and further more would not have made the completely fatuous charge that it lacked a boat safety certificate. Not only is it an open boat under a tonneau cover, but aux yachts are not, in any case, required to suffer the BSS until next year!

I would hope to hear from you that you will endeavour to find more trained, professional people (in place of jobsworth amateurs) to patrol our rivers, and that this occurrence is not typical of what we might expect for the future, however, I fear that the BA is adopting the attitude of similar bodies, i.e. that we are all would-be offenders just waiting to be caught!

Yours, in great sorrow,

John Royal.
Unquote

The reply from the Navigation Officer (or is it just Head Ranger) is attached.
He makes the comment that the Ranger was making a sweep for unlicensed boats. How often are they tasked to sweep do you suppose? Where was the launch for the rest of the month? John reported that he has only seen the launch once since this happened, so opportunity for personal exchange has been somewhat limited. Where are they all? Is this a consequence of the ongoing industrial dispute? Who knows, perhaps the Navigation Committee?

The Navigation Officer also tells us that they are under pressure from tollpayers to collect tolls but do you believe that? Most of us are happy to do our own thing and dont check up on everyone else. Those who might complain usually identify the craft. It is much more likely that this is directed from Colegate and spun to give this impression. They certainly want the money: they are prolific spenders; look at the adjacent waters proposals in the Broads Bill. That extension to their powers is only about money.
The 1988 Act describes the payment as a toll but since when did a toll become a licence?

The final comment about stopping for a chat is what he might have done before sticking the notice on the boat. Certainly in the old days there would have been latitude for the River Inspectors to use common sense.
Maybe, like the police, they are now given targets for catching criminals. As John said, perhaps we are just potential offenders. What will they be like if they get their hands on all the additional powers they are applying for in the new Bill.

River Inspectors?

No, I think a River Inspector would have known John Royal and would have reached a mutually amicable conclusion. A River Inspector would have maintained a relationship with a waterman and riverside resident such as John and would undoubtedly have benefited from the occasional exchange of chit-chat.

The actions of the current regime of Rangers doesn't reveal great resemblances to the River Inspectors, even though some of them are the very same time-served people. Pleasant, helpful and cheerful individuals mostly, but they do seem to have been manipulated into a stick-on-a-ticket-and-run-away practice. The ex-copper in charge should know how damaging this is to the public image, there's no respect without personal contact.

I guess they are too busy ticking-off items from a list of daily duties to have time for any real river work. Please don't blame the full-time Rangers, I don't think they have changed much but their job has been changed for them. I'm sure they don't want to be seen as jobsworths.

Of course this is the legal enforcement end of a navigation authority that wants more control over boating, seeking to achieve it by laws it will struggle to enforce.

Thus widens the chasm between the navigation authority and the navigators. The preference for confrontation over co-operation is so unwise.

GF

Unfortunately this incident does appear to be the developing trend. The doctrine of the Authority does appear to be one of chasm creation, unfortunately.

There is a deplorable arrogance emanating from behind certain office doors.