Please can you explain to me why boat hirers are now bieng charged this £10 pilot charge through potter heigham bridge and wroxham bridge,I know what boat hire companies and the BROARDS TOURS will say ,they will say that it is due to boat damage that is boats bumping the bridge,I AM INSULTED I have never bumped Wroxham bridge in 30 years of boating on the Broards,I do know that this is an arrangement by boatyards and the Broards Tours,this is just another way of getting our money,they charge enough money to hire the boats and raise hire costs EVERY year and still they think of more ways to get your money even mooring charges are to high ,pay mooring fee then pay over the top prices for beer and other drinks and food in the pubs,going back to bridge fee's do you remember when you hired your boat they charged you a NON REFUNDABLE damage waver of £30?? well know this,this waver fee covers all boats for damage to the boat you are on for the period of your holiday!!! so why charge to pilot Wroxham and Potter Heigham bridge's,(BOTH BRIDGES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FREE)the water levels are droping! if they had risen that much why do boats that I have hired over the years all still pass under the bridge,the boat yards and the Broards Tours are taking around £300 a day averaging £2100 a week PER BRIDGE ,do the maths now work out what they get per season!!!this is what its all about!! money and THAT IS THE BOTTEM LINE MINE AND YOUR MONEY,LETS GET TOGETHER AND CHALLENGE THEM,AFTER ALL THE PILOT'S ALL GET PAID A WEEKLY OR MONTHLY WAGE,WHY PAY THE BOAT YARD'S TWICE AND ALLOW THEM TO SHARE THE PROFIT WITH THE BROARDS TOURS!!!COME ON JOIN ME BOAT'ING VETERAN'S..

whats the £80 for, this service has been free for the last 40 plus years,you missed the point the pilot's already get paid ,there on a week'ly wage ,do you want to pay tham more money then,its a money scam and it should not be paid at all !!!! I am not sure what you mean about the GP's!!please explain

Oh deary deary me! Reginold, where did you get your information from? Most of it is wrong. In days gone by the pilot service was a bit like the NHS - free at the point of delivery. It wasn't really free. The service had to be paid for. The service was paid for by Blakes and Hoseasons - and they aren't charitable organisations.

Compulsory pilotage at Potter Heigham for all hire boats came about at the request of the boats' owners. It may be comical to watch boats scraping through the bridge, but those scrapes cost an arm and a leg to repair.

Ten years ago, when I was last piloting at Potter Heigham, we used to complete 15,000 passages Easter to October. Last year the figure was nearer 1,500.

Charging the hirer lucky enough to be able to make the passage seems a much fairer system to me. £10.00? Where did that figure come from. The boatyards still put in the lion's share of the pilotage fee.

As to private owners, they still have two choices - to go or not to go through, with a pilot or without. Seeing the sort of damage that can potentially be done to one's pride and joy, I'd swallow my pride every time. Is it a fair price? That's for pilotage customers to judge.

There's absolutely no problem to be encountered at Potter Heigham so long as common sense and courtesy prevail. Nobody need to engage the pilot service if they simply adhere to the informal rule when approaching the three arches.

Private vessels and hire yachts use the central arch.
Hired motor vessels use the starboard arch.

Never a problem with this system.

GF.