So it is time to renew our boat licences. They run out on 31 December. As we moor on the Bridgewater canal, we have to have a Bridgewater licence. As we do most of our cruising on BW waters, we have to have a BW licence as well. Luckily we get our BW licence at a concessionary price, making the cost of the two licences £60 more than the cost of a full price BW licence. If we had to buy both licences at full price it would cost £1,115.00!!
We could just get short term licences from BW whenever we want to cruise their waters, but in the past we have found that they worked out more expensive. Plus you have got to remember to buy them in advance. It is more convenient to have a full yearly licence – we don’t have to plan in advance.
This year, our Bridgewater licence has gone up by 5%. However our BW licence has gone up by a whopping 44%! Unfortunately the short term prices are only published for the period to 31/03/12, so we cannot work out whether it would be cheaper to use short term licences this year. Who knows how much these will increase from 01/04/12? If we don’t renew our BW licence at the same time as the Bridgewater licence, we don’t get the concessionary rate. We will just have to make sure we get our money’s worth next year.
When I came to send the renewal forms to the Bridgewater Canal Company, I found that I had not received the renewal notice from BW. I telephoned them to ask for a duplicate. I was worried that it would not arrive in time due to the Christmas holidays, so I asked if they could email it to me. The very helpful lady at BW printed the form, scanned it and emailed it to me so that I could print it off and get it in to the Bridgewater Canal Company in time to miss the late payment penalty. I have often read about the problems people have with BW, but in this instance I have to say a big “thank you” to BW.
No comments:
Post a Comment