Rangers On A Purge. ..

[JanetAnne]

It's that time of year again when the rangers blitz everything that's afloat and, having just come across a hunting pair in Richardsons wet shed, I can confirm that they are being super efficient in their remit.

This years pet hate is incorrect registration marks and so their pen was running hot dishing out infringement notices. Out of the 50 boats currently in the wet shed 12 were deemed to be outside their requirements. 

The ranger pointed out that during the change to 'tax disc less' tolls they had been lenient on registration marks but this is the year they are putting that right!!

It seems that you can not have the number on the cabin side because it has to be on the hull but on the pulpit is fine. At the back end you can have it on the transom behind the fenders but not on the cabin rear where its easier to see. Oh yes, by the way you can't have it facing rear on the pushpit!!! 

Edited May 8, 2019 by JanetAnne
Spelling!

[vanessan]

I wish they were similarly enthusiastic about booking speeding boats! Why does it take two to do the ‘registration run’? One of them could be out patrolling the rivers, heaven knows there are so few of them anyway. 

[CambridgeCabby]

I got pulled over last month at Ludham Bridge as I only had one bow registration number displayed , now displaying one both port and starboard so should be ok 

[Paladin]

42 minutes ago, vanessan said:

I wish they were similarly enthusiastic about booking speeding boats! Why does it take two to do the ‘registration run’? One of them could be out patrolling the rivers, heaven knows there are so few of them anyway. 

This is something of a 'daddy or chips' situation. There are a limited number of permanent rangers and they have to perform a myriad of tasks, not all of them on the water. At this time of the year, and particularly in view of the foul weather we're having at the moment, the vast majority of private boats are safely tucked up in their home moorings. Two rangers, going around the moorings, can check far more boats for compliance than the same two patrolling in their launches. The more they can check at this time of year, the fewer they will have to be concerned with later on, when it gets busy, so they will have more time to concentrate on things like speeders.

But they still do patrol at this time of year and in this sort of weather. I encountered one near Thurne Mouth last Saturday, when it was raining cat and dogs and blowing a hoolie!

[Meantime]

1 hour ago, JanetAnne said:

It's that time of year again when the rangers blitz everything that's afloat and, having just come across a hunting pair in Richardsons wet shed, I can confirm that they are being super efficient in their remit.

This years pet hate is incorrect registration marks and so their pen was running hot dishing out infringement notices. Out of the 50 boats currently in the wet shed 12 were deemed to be outside their requirements. 

The ranger pointed out that during the change to 'tax disc less' tolls they had been lenient on registration marks but this is the year they are putting that right!!

It seems that you can not have the number on the cabin side because it has to be on the hull but on the pulpit is fine. At the back end you can have it on the transom behind the fenders but not on the cabin rear where its easier to see. Oh yes, by the way you can't have it facing rear on the pushpit!!! 

Perhaps it is time for the BA to reread it's own regulations again. It could be argued that the Vessel Registration Byelaws 1997 are no longer fit for purpose. The set I just downloaded from their website has a correspondence address of 18 Colegate!!! I don't think the BA have been there for quite a few years.

Anyway the relevant section Display of Registration Marks 16 states,

"No person shall moor, use or navigate a vessel on waters within the navigation area or cause or permit a vessel to be so moored, used or navigated unless the current registration mark issued by the Authority in respect of the vessel is conspicuously displayed at all times on both sides of the vessel near the bow and on the stern of the vessel"

I have highlighted a few items above because they are the pertinent areas as far as the registration byelaws are concerned. The "guidance" leaflet that the BA issue Display of Registration Marks is NOT part of the byelaws. There is no reference to it within the byelaws. Therefore as long as your marks are conspicuous and displayed on both sides near the bow and on the stern you have satisfied the registration byelaws. Interestingly it also does NOT state what size those marks should be, other than being "conspicuously" displayed.

If the BA ask you to move your registration marks to another place of their choosing I would ask when they are going to supply the toll receipt so that you can also display that as per The Registration Byelaws. Here it gets interesting, because the now defunct for toll receipts section 19(2) does state

"Any toll receipt issued by the Authority in respect of the period which includes that mooring, use or navigation of the vessel is displayed on the vessel in such conspicuous position as the Authority shall determine"

Leaving the display of the toll receipt open to further guidance as determined by the Authority, but plainly not the registration marks which should be displayed as per section 16.

 

[unclemike]

i hope chameleon was compliant

 

[Poppy]

Following 'discussions' with the class association,  the requitements have been updated. I trust the BA have told their rangers.

[Meantime]

6 minutes ago, Poppy said:

Following 'discussions' with the class association,  the requitements have been updated. I trust the BA have told their rangers.

Poppy, that looks like the guidance leaflet, not the Byelaws. They haven't been updated and are far more lenient than the guidelines which as far as I can see are NOT enforceable. BA throwing its weight around again. Byelaws they can enforce, guidance they cannot! 

The section at the top of page 2 in Green in the guidance leaflet is the only part which is enforceable. The rest is purely guidance.

https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/888263/Display-of-Registration-Marks-2017.pdf

[grendel]

I am guessing- considering the inclement weather, a nice job indoors and under cover.

[Poppy]

 East Coast IPA

Well, it's come directly from the River Cruiser class association email to members received in early March ! It will be interesting if any such owner receives a 'Notice of contravention' !

[grendel]

I dont think there are many Sailies in Richardsons wet shed though.

[unclemike]

only one afaik.

[JanetAnne]

50 minutes ago, chameleon said:

i hope chameleon was compliant

 

Don't worry, you're safe for now.....

....I guess your comical interpretation of the rules found favour 

[JennyMorgan]

Perhaps they operate in pairs just in case one falls in and also so one ranger can record and the other can witness any infringements. If that is the case then that seems quite reasonable to me.

[CambridgeCabby]

Or perhaps one knows how to read and the other knows how to write 

[Graham47]

I thought it was unusual on the week running up to Easter we were moored on the 24 hr BA moorings coming down from Stalham. It was about 10 .30am and we were the only boat left on the mooring . A female ranger came down the river and moored up just behind us. She got off her ranger boat, checked the two buoyancy aids  mounted on the moorings and noted same on her iPad  / tablet. She then walked down to our boat and checked the registration numbers displayed fore and aft, got back on her boat and went off down the river.

[BroadAmbition]

So. it appears that the Ba rangers have free access to the wet-shed at Richo's now do they?

That is supposed to be a secure area with the access code known to berth holders only.  I wonder who let them in?

Griff

[unclemike]

b een like it for a few years charlie, i got a letter telling me i was not displaying toll plaques and they were on the pulpit rail in m/cycle type tax disc holders, next time we saw them pat suggested they went to specsavers.

[Malanka]

As the regs say the numbers must be legible from either bank and the stern, why are the BA in the shed? Simply put a camera out on the bank to photograph every boat, or better still use the database of current pictures to check without leaving their desk. Then go check in person. 

The earlier finance meeting minutes of the BA show why they are doing this. 

I know of at least one Woody custodian who has been “advised” that their TAGS are wrongly sited. Only been there and on similar boats for 55 years but hey ho. 

Malanka’s TAGS are fully compliant and I have seen quite a few Rangers in the past few weeks who all waved.

Let’s see how this plays out.

M

 

[BroadAmbition]

Well according to the regs I read, 'B.A's 'Bow' reg numbers are not compliant.

However they are in the exact location that Jack Powels first put them on in 1966.  That's fifty three years ok until now.  I have no intention of changing that particular piece of history where our 'B.A' is concerned, not to mention the mess / scarring that would result thereof.  I have much better things to waste my time on  - I can see a a tantrum / hissy fit on its way

Griff

[ExSurveyor]

Some of you will recall the issue i had last year with a notice put on a perspex window, even though the reg numbers were compliant, just the ranger to lazy to look properly.

I wonder what is the situation if the numbes are covered by a winter cover.

[grendel]

I believe in the document linked earlier it stated that if there was a cover then that too should display the numbers.

[JanetAnne]

7 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Well according to the regs I read, 'B.A's 'Bow' reg numbers are not compliant.

You have a ticket confirming this Griff....

[JanetAnne]

The ranger told me that since  they have done away with the tax disc, it has become much harder to check boats out on the water. The quick glance of the right colour disc as you passed is now a read the number and enter it into the database etc.

He said that whereas they used to visually check all the boats that passed it is now down to one in ten, hence the keenness for fully visible numbers.

Oh, by the way, their super duper database that "is absolutely up to date as of 08.00 this morning when I left the office" wasn't !! 

[JanetAnne]

Anyway they told me they will be back in September undertaking another full sweep of the whole network and adjacent waters to check compliance.