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Moorings, House Boats, & Live-Aboards - Page 2
My Story
No you will not move your boat without permission
We don't care how ill you are
We don't care if there is nothing for you secure your boat
Can't get your boat back into its berth... Oh Dear
Can't get on/off your boat... What a shame
My Story
I decided to use a second vehicle as I was doing a lot more mileage up and down the motorways since being at Port Werburgh. So I initially asked other people if we were allowed more than one vehicle, to which I was told yes, but you will have to pay for it, so I obtained the vehicle and went to the office to ask for permission for an additional vehicle. Permission was denied by Jill Swann on the basis that only one vehicle could be driven by me at any one time and because parking was at a premium, she felt they could not offer me a second parking facility. I accepted the refusal as it was a perfectly acceptable reason to do so, and was then given a week or so to find alternative parking.
A few months after I was refused permission, I noted that a new resident who had a vessel behind mine did in fact possess a second vehicle, who informed me that she was being charged £10 per week for parking. When I queried this with Jill, she told me that there were extenuating circumstances which she couldn’t go into. Now as it happens, in time both me and my partner had become extremely friendly with the new resident, so one day I asked what those extenuating circumstances were, to which she replied ' I don't know, I asked for permission which was granted immediately with no question'. As this was my first run in with management, and as it was not a priority, I let the matter rest there. I did however note it for future reference.
As a security consultant, one of the fist things I did was to add security to my vessel which consisted of an intruder alarm and a CCTV system. I installed a Pan, Tilt and Zoom (PTZ) camera atop my mast, and three fixed camera's at the rear of my vessel. The PTZ camera afforded me an overall view of my vessel which allowed me to check my ropes and mooring lines remotely, whilst the rear camera's allowed me to keep an eye on who ventured on my boat when I was not aboard. Two years after the CCTV was installed, I was working on the stern area of my vessel when along came Andrew Brice escorting two Police Officers who said they had received a complaint about my CCTV system. After I demonstrated the system to them, they concluded that there was no case to answer and left. a few days later I received a letter from Andrew Brice stating that he had received a number of complaints about the CCTV system and that he required me to remove the camera's and to provide written assurance that no CCTV camera's will be operated from my boat that can view any other vessel. So I asked for a meeting with him to discuss the matter further. At the meeting which was also attended by Dennis Swann, I stated that whilst I was prepared to remove the three rear camera's, but I was not prepared to remove the PTZ camera as this provided security when out cruising and mooring alongside public footpaths, although I was prepared to cover the PTZ camera whilst on Residential Marine property which was agreed.
As this was my first and only meeting with management I took the opportunity to ask them to address the second vehicle policy that they had imposed upon me. Dennis stated that as Jill was not present at the meeting, and as he was not aware of the circumstances he could not discuss the matter further, but that he would make further enquiries. So I removed the camera's, and covered the PTZ camera with a black plastic cover as agreed, but this was not satisfactory and I then recieved another letter stating that the cover needs to be more obvious and that if I did not comply I would be asked to find alternative moorings. I then covered the camera with a black shroud and wrote to Andrew Brice stating that this had now been done, and in which I trusted it met with his approval. I also asked if management could address my complaint with regard to the second vehicle incident. Four months later I had still not received a reply.
Then one morning Andrew was walking around the pontoon taking electricity meter readings, so I asked him if he had received my letter to which he answered yes. So I then asked him why he had not written back to me even to say that his CCTV demands were satisfactory, let alone dealing with my complaint. He said he felt my allegation was ridiculas and walked away laughing, which annoyed me. I too have deal with customer complaints from time to time, some which are valid, and some which are not, but they all have to be addressed. I expect the same of others. So I said 'don’t effing walk away from me when I am talking to you and asking you to address a perfectly valid complaint from one of your patrons'. His response was to walk back and sneeringly state 'the reason you were refused a second vehicle was because you didn’t ask' then continued to walk away. Actually I did ask, otherwise I would not have known the reason for refusal. So I sneeringly called Andrew a 'tosser' as he walked away for the second time. I then received a letter taped to my vessel from him stating that our relationship was now untenable, and that management wanted me to leave immediately. He also stated that he had reported me to the local police, in particular a PC Michael Dunn for rude and threatening behaviour. As it happens, the content of our exchange was witnessed by other residents who can validate that in no way did I threaten Andrew, and the actual facts of our exchange are as stated above.
I have never been interviewed, or in Police jargon had 'words of advice given' so the Police obviously did not take anything within our exchange seriously. It seems to me that while you live at Port Werburgh you can be controlled by way of threat of eviction, and when that fails they threaten you with the law and the Police. In point of fact, the only probable offence committed by me was to swear once at Andrew which may be covered by section 5 of the Public Order Act, and only a Police Officer or PCSO can initiate a fixed penalty charge for doing so. That was not the only time I was threatened with Police. Soon after leaving Port Werburgh, I returned to visit some friends to have Jill tell me that 'you have been kicked out of Port Werburgh, you are not welcome here and if you come back I will have you arrested'. Actually, Police can eject me or anyone else from Port Werburgh which is private property at the request of the owner, and if I refuse to leave, then and only then could I be arrested. There could also be a bit of a grey area insofar as a residents rights or human rights, to invite someone who is banned by the management to Port Werburgh which may supersede trespass laws, but as I am not bothered about Port Werburgh any longer then there is no need for me to test that grey area.
My Story (Continued)
The aforementioned account was the icing on the cake so to speak. There were other instances which on their own seem trivial, but they go to the heart of the matter where people will feel 'got at' when management impose the rules selectively. For example, my partner was asked to fit wheels to her gangplank as management said it was damaging their pontoon. This was a perfectly reasonable request, I myself would not want company property damaged when a simple solution would remedy it. So we fitted wheels to the gangplank, only to be told that the wheels may still be a bit too small. As previously stated, a perfectly reasonable request until, as we walked back to our vessels from the office, we noted that there were other gangplanks that had no wheels at all, some consisted of a metal plate, while another was seen to be gouging out the wood of the pontoon. One vessel even had castors for wheels that would often travel across the pontoon as the tide came and went. We knew there was no point in making an issue of this as we would have got an unfavourable response. On leaving Port Werburgh those self same gangplanks that would normally draw managements attention still failed to do so and as far as I know are still damaging their pontoons.
Another example is that it is a requirement that all boat owners notify the office if they intend to do any work and to obtain a permission slip. This I imagine is to minimise the risk of fire and damage to other vessels or the pontoons. My partner was chastised because she allowed her daughters boyfriend to help to paint her vessel and for allowing her car to be used by him to pop up to the local DIY shop, whereupon his return he used her gate key to park her car back in the car park from whence it came. For this gross infringement of the rules, she was threatened with eviction if she did not comply with the rules in future. A similar event occurred with yet another resident which can be read later. I fail to see how management can insist on us observing rules and regulations when adjacent to where we were moored was a neighbour, a lovely chap, who was doing extensive work to his vessel which involved structural changes as well as using heavy duty tools such as grinding, sawing, sanding all without a permission slip, and he is not the only one. It causes me to beg the question, are we being singled out for some reason, or are we just being too sensitive?. Read on to decide for yourself if we are just being too sensitive and judge for yourself.
No you will not move your boat without permission
Mr & Mrs 'A' were asked to move their vessel forward by about six feet or so to permit another resident Mr 'B' to temporarily moor a second vessel alongside his current one which was behind them. This they did, but when Mr 'B' sold his second vessel Mr & Mrs 'A' moved their boat back to where it was originally because they liked the view. The response from management was to threaten that if they didn’t move back then they would be charged for the extra six feet.
We don't care how ill you are
Ms 'C' had a birthday party on board her vessel, unfortunately she fell ill on her birthday and took to her bed. While not wanting to stop anybody else's fun she allowed the party to go ahead but without her. At some stage during the evening, someone had to go to the local shops and get some tonic and fruit juices. They decided to use Ms 'C' car and when they came back they used Ms 'C's key fob to put her car back. Ms 'C' was told that she is on a three month warning, and provided she behaved herself then she and her daughter would not be evicted.
We don't care if there is nothing for you secure your boat
One of the vessels at Port Werburgh is a concrete and steel floating pontoon, upon which has been built a two storey structure. The second owner, prior to the current owner complained to the office that there is only one pile and the cleats of Port Werburgh's pontoon in which to secure the vessel and it was insufficient as in strong winds the structure would tend to move away from the pontoon. in the meantime he had no choice but to secure his vessel to the nearest pile which took his rope across the pontoon to the nearest pile. He waited over a year constantly reminding the office that he needed a pile to secure his vessel properly. Eventually he sold the vessel. The new owner moved in and it wasn’t long before we had strong winds and high tides. The consequence of which was that the rope that stretched across the pontoon got caught under one of the pontoons cleats and as the tide receded caused to pontoon to hang in the air. Management said he must do something about his ropes, to which he asked what can I do if I have nothing to tie to?. Their response was to say 'that’s your problem'. Some time later, another resident moved his boat next to them and a pole was provided for him. Although next to each other, the original resident still has nothing provided for him to adequately secure his vessel.
Can't get your boat back into its berth... Oh Dear
Mrs 'D' needed to move her vessel to a dry dock to have some work done to the hull. So she made the arrangements and settled a price to move her vessel to the dry dock, then to move it back when the work had been completed. The move to dry dock was uneventful, however, the move back was halted halfway to her berth as Dennis Swann had left a vessel in the way where the tugboat captain couldn’t get Mrs 'D's vessel and his tug past the obstruction, so he had little choice but to moor her to what is commonly known as the 'Outer arm' as that was the only mooring available. Initially she had no water or electric supply until he was able to move her back to her original berth a day or so later. Although charged for the move both ways, she was charged again for the move from the 'Outer arm' back to the original berth. Mrs ' D' paid the additional charge even though it was not her fault but the fault of residential Marine. To date no compensation has been paid by Residential Marine and Mrs 'D' has not pressed the matter with Residential Marine because she like many others are scared of repercussions.
Can't get on/off your boat... What a shame
My neighbour who was an elderly lady and who suffered with problems with her legs and knees, who found it hard to walk without a stick or cane had asked management if she could move elsewhere as she could not get on and off her vessel because Dennis in his infinite wisdom had blasted mud under the pontoon which caused the pontoon to sit at an acute angle when settled on the mud, and caused it to sit further away from her vessel. She was told that she couldn’t be moved. So I made a step and plank arrangement as an aid in getting on and off safely. Even when the snow and ice had settled on the pontoon recently, management refused to allow her to move thus committing her to walking on a tilting pontoon that was slippery. She has now left Port Werburgh.
If you are a resident, or even an ex-resident of Port Werburgh and have a story to tell, please let us know. If you can validate your story we will include it if possible.
Visitor IP Address:
38.107.179.240
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