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DESCRIBED as the 'bully boys of the Thames', the Port of London Authority (PLA) has increased its mooring charges a colossal 273 percent!
 Screen and television star, Susan Penhaligon, who played Doris in Emmerdale, has told that her mooring charge, after retail price index increases should stand at £2,787, as received a demand from the PLA for £9,400, Alan Tilbury reveals.
She is attempting to get other house boat owners to band together to fight the increases, naming the organisation the 'bully boys', after trying to force such demands of mooring fees amounting to thousands of pounds on boat owners.
Shambolic
Susan, whose most famous role was in controversial 1976 drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire but perhaps more well known for her Emmerdale character, described the licence fee system used by the PLA to charge different rates to different boats as 'shambolic', and is calling for a complete overhaul. explaining:
"It's quite extraordinary, I've never felt quite such a sense of injustice. It's such a complicated system, we need an independent ombudsman to look at it all and sort it out—it's a complete nonsense."
Could not afford to pay
Another boater owner, 75 years old Jill Townsend told that she could not afford to pay the massive increase, though living on the river for 28 years, did not want to lose her home.
Supporter, Twickenham MP Vince Cable, revealed that he had tabled a motion for a debate on the matter in the House of Commons, expressing concern that the PLA was 'abusing its monopoly powers'.
A spokesman for the PLA told it levied the charges levied on boats so it could fund safety patrols on the river 365 days a year. |
