Help stop the unfair eviction of a live-aboard boater by the C&RT

[cuppa tee]

From the National Bargee Traveller Association......

NEWS
BOAT DWELLER THREATENED WITH EVICTION. URGENT HELP NEEDED
APRIL 7, 2019 NBTALONDON LEAVE A COMMENT


Certified gas engineer and boat dweller, Andrzei, has been given an eviction notice by the Canal and River Trust (CRT) and is underimmediate threat of eviction.

He is on the boat commonly called ‘the caravan boat’, which is a WW2 landing craft onto which he has skillfully welded and fixed a mobile home. He constructed a platform at the stern and mounted an outboard engine as well as reducing the air draft so it can go under many of the bridges in the system. His boat is a fully mobile boat home.

CRT is claiming the boat is unsafe despite him being a certified gas engineer and having an up to date Boat Safety Scheme Certificate. The boat safety exam was done by trusted boat safety examiner, Pete Wakeham, late last year.

It seems that prejudice has ushered CRT to call Andrzei’s home unsafe. CRT deciding a boat unsafe despite having a Boat Safety Scheme Certificate could be a slippery slope, which could see CRT think it can label any uniquely made vessel as unsafe.

We shall not let his hardworking man be made homeless by CRT.

Together we can stop this eviction.

Please email CRT to change their minds in evicting Andrzei.

Email:

Leiam.Walsh@canalrivertrust.org.uk

Simon.Cadek@canalrivertrust.org.uk

richard.parry@canalrivertrust.org.uk

Here is a template email Template email to stop Andrzei eviction

If you are on the Grand Union main line or Paddington Arm or just in the general West London area and you’re happy to be called upon even to just film when CRT tries to evict him, please email nbtalondon@gmail.com your number and we will tell you when CRT turns up.

Please spread the word and get support to stop this eviction

 

[TopCat]

I assume they are trying to send a message to stop this sort of thing spreading? Did he not realise they would be fucking fuming at his work? I won't help filming but am up for the venerable tradition of resisting bailiffs?

 

[tim]

Good luck to him, even if it isn't exaxctly the quaintest thing on the canal

 

[Gramsci]

In London I know several people who are now living on the canals.

The high cost of renting in London has made them look at alternatives. One is living on canal network.

Its cheaper to buy an old motor cruiser or do a this man has done and put cobble together your own craft. You pay a fee per year to be allowed to moor up on canal network. You need to move every few weeks but it works. Its cheaper than renting of exploitative private landlord.

This doesn't fit the aesthetic of London canals. They are now overlooked by expensive flats. Formerly were forgotten backwater.

This attempt to get rid of working class canal resident is all part and parcel of gentrification of London.

After all if one buys luxury flat overlooking the newly "regenerated" Kings Cross does one want to see a low class caravan? I think not.

 

[tim]

In London I know several people who are now living on the canals.


This doesn't fit the aesthetic of London canals. They are now overlooked by expensive flats. Formerly were forgotten backwater.

This attempt to get rid of working class canal resident is all part and parcel of gentrification of London.

That thing doesn't fit the aesthetic of the traditional working canal people either.





I'm not seeking to justify evictions just lamenting (and romantising) a long gone way of life. The film's particularly the first one are worth watching. I come from Hounslow and we had a family friend from a Brentford canal family who got lost in nostalgia occasionally.

 

[Wookey]

Most developers spend millions to design characterless boxes for people to live in. This guy's done the same thing for pennies, they should hire him rather than evict him.

Has he got any legal help?

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Careful now. Don't want to go boat happy.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Careful now. Don't want to go boat happy.

He should rope in Toby Jug to deal with the bailiffs.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Most developers spend millions to design characterless boxes for people to live in. This guy's done the same thing for pennies, they should hire him rather than evict him.

Has he got any legal help?

The London boating community's quite tight, especially the continuous cruisers who don't have a permanent mooring, so I'd hazard a guess he's well advised in terms of what's what legally, but what's needed is a bit of a social and traditional media commotion to shame CRT into backing down and stop being dicks.

 

[Gramsci]

That thing doesn't fit the aesthetic of the traditional working canal people either.





I'm not seeking to justify evictions just lamenting (and romantising) a long gone way of life. The film's particularly the first one are worth watching. I come from Hounslow and we had a family friend from a Brentford canal family who got lost in nostalgia occasionally.

The people I know in canals arent nostalgic. They see living on canals as rational choice given the high cost of living in London. Now that's under threat. Where are those on working class incomes supposed to live in London?

I'm not nostalgic about working class life. I grew up in house with no bathroom and we used the washhouse down the end of the road. I certainly don't want to go back to that.

What's been happening in places like Kings Cross development is that expensive flats are built. The canal view is part of the selling point.

Nice expensive traditional narrow boats are ok. Like at the Maida Vale moorings which aren't cheap.

The example in the OP is example to me of how people on workers incomes in London are getting pushed out by the ongoing gentrification of inner London.

 

[twentythreedom]

I know loads of liveaboards on yachts - the RYA can give excellent legal advice but I suspect canals are outside their remit.

Everything I've heard about the CRT makes them sound like a bunch of officious jobsworth cunts

If there's anything I can do that might be worth a try please let me know, I have some good contacts for boating legal advice but I think canals come under a different legal regime. There are tons of liveaboard yachts that are absolute sheds but if you can drop anchor somewhere there's basically fuck all the authorities can do to bother you.

Gutted for this bloke, cunts should just leave him be.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Everything I've heard about the CRT makes them sound like a bunch of officious jobsworth cunts

Gutted for this bloke, cunts should just leave him be.

^^^this^^^ and ^^^this^^^

 

[Teaboy]

Yes the CRT do sound pretty dreadful and who are they anyway? How did they become in a position to run our canals? Shitty privatisation via the back door under the guise of charity.

There was a thread on here a while back about the CRT targeting those who live on the canals and trying to force them off the water. I do understand that some users kind of exploit loopholes in the cruising rules and probably are not in the spirit of the rules but the question has to be asked, so what? Where is the damage?

In London the canals are getting pretty congested so I can see why this might be more of an issue and I wonder whether in this case its the real motivation for the CRT? Are they using 'unsafe' gambit as a cover because they just don't like cruisers in general?

 

[8115]

.

 

[Chilli.s]

Shitty privatisation via the back door under the guise of charity.

This is exactly how I see it.

 

[friedaweed]

It'd look a lot better with a lick of paint.

 

[Part 2]

There was a similar story of an unconventional boat in Manchester although the problems were with the council and the marina he wanted to moor in.

The £80k 'house boat' that's being kicked out because it's 'not a boat'