--- In [email protected], Bruce Napier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > According to the patrol officer we spoke to this November, they used to > have handhelds with the whole database on it, but there was some > problem (battery size, I think) so this year they all had reams of > print out on clip boards, ordered by number not boat name. > > Atm, he's the only patrol for Wales and Border Counties, so his patch > runs from Swansea to Llangollen to Chester and across to Macclesfield. > > ATB > > Bruce
As many will know I now actually work in the craft licencing department at Watford (until the dept moves to Leeds later this year) and I just happen to look after Wales & BC. Bruce will be talking either about Colin Cope or the recently retired John B. Both patrol offices have a detailed knowledge of their patches and know which boats aren't and are not licenced. Persistant licence evaders have been discovering to their cost how efficient we are at getting people licenced and recovering back licence and mooring fees, through the courts if necessary. Sue is perfectly correct in stating that if a boat is not displaying a valid licence it still may actually be licenced and only checking the BW SAP system will reveal all. There are occasions, such as when a boat changes owner and the previous owner does not transfer the licence and a refund is in progress and the new licence discs for the new owner have not arrived when a boat may not be displaying discs. Occasionally discs are genuinely lost in the post or undelivered for some reason. Sometimes there is a delay for a variety of reasons in issuing discs but the licence has been processed. Reporting every boat you see that does not appear to be displaying a valid licence can seriously tie up the enforcements teams time in checking the system instead of spending time pursuing those who we know are evading, and believe me, since I started working for BW, I now know there is nowhere to hide if you don't pay. We are constantly improving, we will find you, catch you and we will recover the money or remove the boat, it just takes a little time ... but we're getting faster. HTH Debbi
