I would like to point out to boaters that the claim by CaRT that the licence is now a contract based on the 1962 Transport act is not true, writes Richard Churchill.
Mandatory pleasure boat licences were not introduced until the 1975 BW act, and a public right of navigation existed on all BW canals until 1968, unless BW and Parliament possessed a time machine the 62 act can have nothing to do with licences.
No contract involved
Pleasure boat licences are issued under the three statutory conditions stated in the 1995 BW act section 17 (3) nothing else, revocation is only permitted for a breach of any of those three conditions, nothing else, there is no contract involved, and no civil contract can ever override statute.
The 'rules' governing the use of all CaRT waterways are the 1965 general canal byelaws, breach of which is a criminal offence with its own set penalties if found guilty, but this does permit CaRT to revoke a statutory licence.
The 'licence terms and conditions' is not a lawful contract, and so is unenforceable whether agreed to or not, I'm afraid CaRT is not telling boaters the truth.