Tolls

[Lastdraft]

I was going to bring my new boat to the broads in a few weeks time, I called the Broads Authority to register and pay the toll, amazed to be told I have to pay for the full year and then again 1st April for a full year ! ?   Just trying to get my head around it ,  I think they’re saying I have to pay for a boat I did not own, did not have on the broads , but I owe tolls from last  April ?

Who are these people , don’t they know they are damaging their local economy, I would be spending several bob with Broadlands businesses over the next 4/5 months will now be spent elsewhere. 

How do they justify this, I know they have to be funded but this really is day light robbery  ........ in my opinion  

 

 

[keifsmate]

EA are a little bit more reasonable as if you register for a Toll after 1st Sep, you only pay for half a year.

[Lastdraft]

Hi Keifsmate, who are EA ? 

[dnks34]

2 minutes ago, Lastdraft said:

I was going to bring my new boat to the broads in a few weeks time, I called the Broads Authority to register and pay the toll, amazed to be told I have to pay for the full year and then again 1st April for a full year ! ?   Just trying to get my head around it ,  I think they’re saying I have to pay for a boat I did not own, did not have on the broads , but I owe tolls from last  April ?

Who are these people , don’t they know they are damaging their local economy, I would be spending several bob with Broadlands businesses over the next 4/5 months will now be spent elsewhere. 

How do they justify this, I know they have to be funded but this really is day light robbery  ........ in my opinion  

 

 

Yep, thats about the size of it! 

[keifsmate]

Sorry Lastdraft, I should have been a bit more specific! Environment Agency, Anglian Waterways. River Nene, Great Ouse and it's tributaries, Stour, Welland & Glen, Ancholme and Black Sluice. Black Sluice is a Fen drain entered from Boston Haven. But not the Middle Levels or the Cam upstream from Bottisham Lock which is administered by the River Cam Conservancy.

[Aboattime]

Yes thats the BA for you,when we bought our boat we had to pay for 3 months license that we didnt use,when i rang and asked why, i was told "thats the way it is "! Its legalised robbery.

[Wonderwall]

How much is the toll?   Is it specific to the size and type of boat?

 

it does seem harsh.

[Lastdraft]

It’s a 31 ft boat, not sure how much the toll is/was, don’t think it’s relevant, as I understand it, if you brought your boat to the broads on the 30th March you would still have to pay a full years toll then another full years toll a day later !! 

Only in Norfolk ............

[BroadAmbition]

Same thing happened to us with 'B.A'  Launched in September, engine  / drive train fitted October then recommissioned.  Had to pay for a full years toll, only to have to pay for another year 5 months later.  Only in Norfolk or should I say only the BA.  I agree, legalised / daylight robbery, at least Dick Turpin wore a mask where as the good Dr has a daft hat

Griff

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Lastdraft said:

It’s a 31 ft boat, not sure how much the toll is/was, don’t think it’s relevant, as I understand it, if you brought your boat to the broads on the 30th March you would still have to pay a full years toll then another full years toll a day later !! 

Only in Norfolk ............

Has this boat been previously registered with BA ? If not yiu should be able to get from Jan 1st a 50% discount , yep you pay 50% for basically 25% use , any way up its a rip off , the only time you get what you pay for is from 1st April ( now there's an appropriate date !!!! ) 

[dnks34]

1 hour ago, Wonderwall said:

How much is the toll?   Is it specific to the size and type of boat?

 

it does seem harsh.

For our boat at 37ft by 12ft 6ins it was around £526 for this year and will be up 3% for next by the sounds of things.

Not fair being charged for months you cant/couldnt get any use. 

[Guest]

I was not aware of this as both times we have purchased boats they were already on the broads and had current tolls, a very poor policy by the BA.

[SteveO]

I don't for the life of me understand why BA can't operate a system like the DVLA, where your "tax" runs for 12 months from the month in which you buy it.  The BA don't now have to worry about checking that toll plaques are the correct colour for the year now, so that excuse has gone. This approach would eventually also even out the workload by avoiding the need to toll thousands on boats in March. But then again, they are not elected or accountable and the man in the funny hat doesn't really like boaters, so why would they change.

[BroadAmbition]

I don't for the life of me understand why BA can't operate a system like the DVLA,

Well I can - It's called daylight robbery as per previous post, plain and simple

Griff

[Wonderwall]

1 hour ago, dnks34 said:

For our boat at 37ft by 12ft 6ins it was around £526 for this year and will be up 3% for next by the sounds of things.

Not fair being charged for months you cant/couldnt get any use. 

It really does stink as being nothing more than fleecing the customer.  

If someone wishes to vist for say 3 weeks , do they also have to buy a years tax?

[imtamping2]

No short visit tolls are available.

[dnks34]

You can buy a short visit toll if you are just a visting boat but if your boat is in the water (broads) all year and you only manage to use it for 3 weeks your still paying for the full year. 

The only way round it is to have your boat lifted out and dry stored (equally as expensive) or when they are selling a boat at a brokerage it doesnt need to be tolled.

[L8DAVE]

I was lucky in that , when I bought my boat , she was already tolled 

[batrabill]

I thought the answer to this was well known and well understood. Many people take their boats out of the water for a decent portion of the year. If tolls were allowed that meant you only paid for the time the boat was in the water then there would be a massive drop in tolls income. The only way to rectify that would be to have equally massive increases of tolls. 

Any system that allowed ‘part Year’ payments would be open to ‘gaming’ - for instance not paying your toll until a Ranger sees you and claiming you put the boat in the water an hour previously and so only need to pay from today.

 

 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, batrabill said:

I thought the answer to this was well known and well understood. Many people take their boats out of the water for a decent portion of the year. If tolls were allowed that meant you only paid for the time the boat was in the water then there would be a massive drop in tolls income. The only way to rectify that would be to have equally massive increases of tolls. 

Any system that allowed ‘part Year’ payments would be open to ‘gaming’ - for instance not paying your toll until a Ranger sees you and claiming you put the boat in the water an hour previously and so only need to pay from today.

 

 

That's fine but for the fact that many boats are on brokerage and aparantly don't require tolls ! And should yiu buy one halfway through the tolls yr you are unfairly req to pay for the portion of the year that you didn't even own the vessel never mind use it and that I believe is what this thread is about ,if you remove your boat for winter then tolls would have already been paid and its down to the owner as to if they choose to use the boat or not and there by paying tolls for none usage , remember if your boat is a total loss mid yr and the insurance pay out when you buy another that then is required to be tolled from the previous April ( if its not already) and you receive no refund for the previous vessels toll in spite of it  not being your fault for the loss of use , that's exactly what is wrong with the current system and absolutely nothing to do with people removing their boat for winter storage .

[Guest ExMemberKingFisher]

2 hours ago, batrabill said:

I thought the answer to this was well known and well understood. Many people take their boats out of the water for a decent portion of the year. If tolls were allowed that meant you only paid for the time the boat was in the water then there would be a massive drop in tolls income. The only way to rectify that would be to have equally massive increases of tolls. 

Any system that allowed ‘part Year’ payments would be open to ‘gaming’ - for instance not paying your toll until a Ranger sees you and claiming you put the boat in the water an hour previously and so only need to pay from today.

 

 

The answer to this problem (rip off) is very simple, especially now that we have computers that are very good at tracking such things. Allow people to purchase 12 months toll from the day they purchase or place their boat in the water. No refunds if the boat is taken out of the water, or transferred to another waterway. Allow the toll to be transferred to new owner if sold and it is staying on The Broads.

The current system is verging on criminal and just doesn't make sense no matter how much some may try and justify it. Let's say your annual toll is £120 per year, that equates to £12 per month. Now lets say you purchase that same boat and put it in the water on the 1st October, it still costs you £120 or £24 per month for the coldest six months of the season. Hardly helpful for the Broads businesses trying to scratch a living over the Winter.

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, KingfishersTime said:

The answer to this problem (rip off) is very simple, especially now that we have computers that are very good at tracking such things. Allow people to purchase 12 months toll from the day they purchase or place their boat in the water. No refunds if the boat is taken out of the water, or transferred to another waterway. Allow the toll to be transferred to new owner if sold and it is staying on The Broads.

The current system is verging on criminal and just doesn't make sense no matter how much some may try and justify it. Let's say your annual toll is £120 per year, that equates to £12 per month. Now lets say you purchase that same boat and put it in the water on the 1st October, it still costs you £120 or £24 per month for the coldest six months of the season. Hardly helpful for the Broads businesses trying to scratch a living over the Winter.

Exactly well said . edited to say that using that system causes no decrease in tolls other than the amounts that are basically robbed from  boat owners and damaging the broads network of boat sales , all the other agency's that deal with river / canal licences can do it but BA refuses to based on the flimsy excuse that the tolls dept is too small to cope with changes of that nature , if that's the case then re train some of the over populated planning dept perhaps , I did hear a while back from someone in the tolls office that they are considering stage payments , that's a move in the right direction but start them from the day you own the boat not April 1st .

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, KingfishersTime said:

The answer to this problem (rip off) is very simple, especially now that we have computers that are very good at tracking such things. Allow people to purchase 12 months toll from the day they purchase or place their boat in the water. No refunds if the boat is taken out of the water, or transferred to another waterway. Allow the toll to be transferred to new owner if sold and it is staying on The Broads.

The current system is verging on criminal and just doesn't make sense no matter how much some may try and justify it. Let's say your annual toll is £120 per year, that equates to £12 per month. Now lets say you purchase that same boat and put it in the water on the 1st October, it still costs you £120 or £24 per month for the coldest six months of the season. Hardly helpful for the Broads businesses trying to scratch a living over the Winter.

Is it too late to have an "ANPR" equivalent module added to the electronic speed signs planned? I do agree and anything other than a pro rata fee for part year first registration tolls is unfair.

[Guest ExMemberKingFisher]

Just now, Philosophical said:

Is it too late to have an "ANPR" equivalent module added to the electronic speed signs planned?

Hopefully, these are rivers not motorways. We don't need electronic signage of any sort. The tolls database is now portable and all the river inspectors have access to it on their laptop. The rangers at Reedham and I assume the yacht stations make a note of all the reg numbers that are moored there overnight.

[Guest]

Just now, Philosophical said:

Is it too late to have an "ANPR" equivalent module added to the electronic speed signs planned?

There already is a solution to anpr they are called rangers , too much electronic gadgetry will take away what the broads is all about , rangers are there to enforce as much as anything tolls and speeding etc and they do regardless of who you are there is no let off  for certain people none at all .