IT HAS been some time since my last column due to a very heavy work load since becoming a project manager. But then one does need to earn a living to pay the bills. What spare time that I have had, has been spent repairing damage caused by boating work-shy low-life.
NBTA members abuse visitor moorings
The local members of the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) are continuing to abuse the visitors moorings in March. One of which, the green 70ft narrowboat, pictured and that was also pictured in my last column, is still moored in the same place.
It has now been there for over 36 weeks. This is really taking the mickey, when you consider that the time limit is only 36 hours. The other four keep moving between the town moorings and the ones in West End Park. The owners of these five boats are anti-social in their actions as they are taking up half the space on the visitors moorings.
The need for mooring by-laws in March
This clearly shows the need for mooring by-laws which the secretary of the local IWA claims are not needed stating that the council should just use its land owner's powers. The fact is they are very limited.
Over the years my family, like other land owners, have had travellers invade our lands. You cannot remove them at the point of a shotgun (Tony Martin Method) or any other use of force. The police will simply tell you to get a Court Order which costs money and takes between seven and ten days to get. Then there are costs to enforce the Court Order and to prevent them from returning you would need to get a court injunction.
Even after that you have the cost of clearing up the mess they leave. So in the end your bank balance is much lighter. It is for this reason that no action has been taken against these 'Bargee Travellers' by the council or by land owners outside town.
Recovering the costs from these travellers; not a hope.
Attacks on boats and owners
The owner of the overstaying red Springer that was pictured last time has claimed that the notice stuck on her boat was a 'hate crime' (The boat had not moved for over a month). The notice text was Will the owner of this vessel please remove. This is a 36 hour mooring and other boat owners are not having the pleasure of using these moorings.
We can all agree that this was polite. Since then your scribe has been under attack from the owner of this boat and her fellow Bargee Travellers. Both on myself (including an attack in broad daylight outside the entrance to the marina) and on the boat as well. Some of the damage done to the boats in town has included expanding foam sprayed down the stove flue and also into the engine exhaust causing irreparable damage.
Spray painted boat
A few weeks ago, one of them sneaked in to the marina in the dead of night and spray painted offensive language on the side of the boat claiming that your scribe was a 'paedophile' which was poorly spelled. This claim was totally untrue and there is reason to believe this was an attempt to get other moorers in the marina to attack your scribe.
This attack has backfired on them for any support in the marina that they may have had has since gone. With many people disgusted with this act, she now claims that I did it myself so she would get the blame. On the night that this crime took place I was actually away for the weekend on the South Coast. The police have done nothing as there is a policy of hands-off toward travellers.
As for the spray painted offensive language, I was able removed it using paint gun cleaner as the boat had been given a good coat of marine wax last Autumn which insured that the spray paint could not get a good bond, otherwise the side of the boat would have needed repainting. It still needs to be T-cut and buffed, but that can wait until it gets warmer. Thanks to Gary in the paint shed at Foxes Marina for the tip about using paint gun cleaner to remove the spray paint.
Break-ins still continuing along the riverside.
Boats and sheds are still being broken into along the riverbank in the Fenland town of March. With no sign of the local police catching anyone. It would help if the police were out on the beat and not in the canteen. Some people have started leaving boxes out to prevent damage to their boats.