UK National Boat Count

UK National Boat Count
Filed under: Britishwaterway News — Boats To Go @ 2:18 am
British Waterways has announced that, following its annual National Boat Count took, which place over two weeks during November, the number of unidentified or unlicensed boats on the waterways it manages has reduced from 10.4% to 6.8%. During 2008, more than 140 unlicenced boats have been seized and Section 8 enforcement proceedings are currently underway on more than 300 craft. The biggest falls in evasion rates were in the West Midlands, London and the South West, although there were also reductions in evasion rates in seven out of BW’s eight BW administrative areas in England and Wales. The lowest evasion rate is in BW’s Yorkshire area, which saw a small increase in the rate to 5.2%. The full table of evasion rates is as follows

Evasion rate by region
2007
2008
Change
East Midlands
10.3%
6.4%
-3.9%
London
12.0%*
7.6%
-4.4%
North West
11.8%
7.6%
-4.2%
South East
12.3%
8.4%
-3.9%
South West
11.5%
7.1%
-4.4%
Wales and Border Counties
9.3%
6.3%
-3.0%
West Midlands
10.6%
6.1%
-4.5%
Yorkshire
5.0%
5.2%
+0.2%
Overall
10.4%
6.8%
-3.6%

From the beginning of April, boat owners who have an unlicensed boat by more one month out of date, including all those identified as part of the National Boat Count, are to face an additional charge of £150 surcharge on their overdue licence fees. The charge is intended to reflect BW’s extra cost incurred in chasing up overdue payments.