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Olympic Water Chariots


Chertsey

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http://www.water-chariots.co.uk

 

Looks like they have given up!

 

"Due to events beyond our control..."

 

Hardly! Their business model was apparently based on the assumption that lots of people would fork out a pretty hefty sum for an hour's trip along the river to the Olympics. It seemed pretty obvious to most folk here that their forecasts were wildly optimistic. And it seems we were proved right (unless anyone knows of other relevant events beyond their control).

 

Gonnna be some cheap widebeams ripe for conversion up for sale soon. :huh:

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I cannot believe for one minute that anything other than public (LOCOG) money funded that floating commercial disaster that was Water Chariots. Banks don't throw money around like they used to and anyone who has any familiarity with London's waterways would not have ploughed cash into something so hopelessly flawed.

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It would be nice to think that we will now get our lock landing back at Tottenham and maybe the pontoons at Limehouse used to replace the 14 day mooring lost at Limehouse recently and those about to be lost at Islington.

Surely they're ideal for conversion to expensive residential moorings?

 

Why bother with free visitor moorings when residentials are such a better revenue earner and who needs lock landings if all the boats are static?

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Perhaps that nice person from Water Chariots who was on here the other week telling us all about the wonderful things they were doing and had planned for thd future will come back and attempt to tell us the facts. Once, that is, they know what a fact is!

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It just seems like a bunch of people with a lot of money decided to try and rip off a potential captive market for greed.

 

I'm glad they failed, but sorry for the workers who didn't get paid, the people who couldn't use the landing stage, the people who were ripped off, the other businesses who will be relying on the credit extended in good faith, the kids who can't use the canoe facilities and so on.

 

It reminds me of the solar eclipse event about 10 years ago, when lots of people in Cornwall decided to spend out to build campsites, hire toilets, book band, arrange catering, all assuming they were going to make a killing by charging huge amounts for the camping. Oh boy, did the bleating and whining go on for a very long time afterwards when all the massive profits failed to materialise. Ha ha to them as well.

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Sad that staff have not been paid. However, you can understand why -

 

I was told there would be over a 1000 people walking through their doors every day; this was quite the opposite. It was dead and had no atmosphere what so ever.

 

Actually, it was meant to be 1000 per hour at peak times not 1000 per day.

 

From an Olympics report by BW's Steve Dunlop (then Regeneration Director) in November 2010 -

 

BW is working with Water Chariots, a new company which will operate water buses

and commercial moorings at Limehouse Basin. Their business plan includes letting

flats (which they own) in and around the basin to non accredited media and

transporting journalists to the Games. It is envisaged that up to 20 boats will be needed

and up to 1000 people will be using the waterbus service an hour at peak times

Edited by Allan(nb Albert)
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Just my speculation: If this didn't use public money then I will bet it was city money, it was too well funded for anything else. The world of 'City' is so totally removed from the real world. In the City if your surrounding environment doesn't suit, then you manipulate it until it does. In the real world, certain things are 'fixed' and you need to have the skill to work around them. I have seen this process before, on a massive scale, successful city gent tries his hand at real business and discovers he wasn't so clever after all!

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I think it might have been encouraged by the 'blue sky thinking' of our local planners.

They're the ones that encouraged the business barges that cost Bw over £3OOk and took almost a year to find tenants, then spent so much money on a design comp to build a new footbridge (that happened to be such low air draft it would've trapped some of the boats on their moorings up here), that fortunately they ran out of cash to actually build it!

They've been proposing a waterbus for years, well before the Olympics, not that anyone ever bothered to research if there was actually a need for one, so when Water Chariots came along no wonder they got excited.

I am still waiting for the French style riverside restaurants,the farmers market, the luxury hotel that looks like a Sail, the new public lido for the marsh, the CRT visitor centre on one of the business barges and the luxury visitor moorings with elec hook up! We could've been another Clarence dock!

Edited by Lady Muck
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[quote name='koukouvagia' timestamp='1346745809' post='933436']
I wonder if the operators of the Water Chariots had a look at the eye-watering fares that the hospitality and charter boats charge on the Thames and thought they would be able to tap into the same market?
[/quote]

They're not that bad value when you look at what you get for your money, though, my brother in law held his wedding reception on one (he lives in Goring) and it was brilliant, not cheap, but the food was wonderful, the service excellent.

I think it helps if you can have some attractive scenery, though - the lower Lee has more in common with the canals on the outskirts of Brum than it does with the Thames. You're just looking at the back of council estates and factories.

Still, we will go and look at Bow Back Rivers when we are allowed to do so.

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Just spotted something: :detective:

 

On 12th July, Water Chariots Limited (Company no. 07365092) changed its name to River Subco Limited, and

 

Aghoco 1108 Limited (Company no. 08064572) changed its name to Water Chariots Limited.

 

River Subco Limited is now listed by Companies House as "Active - proposal to strike off"

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Just spotted something: :detective:

 

On 12th July, Water Chariots Limited (Company no. 07365092) changed its name to River Subco Limited, and

 

Aghoco 1108 Limited (Company no. 08064572) changed its name to Water Chariots Limited.

 

River Subco Limited is now listed by Companies House as "Active - proposal to strike off"

 

I was contacted yesterday by one of the skippers who worked for Waterways Chariots asking for help because he had not been paid and was having difficulty getting in touch with the the company.

 

However, as Cosmic says, Water Chariots Limited has existed under two company registration numbers (albeit not at the same time) and both companies are still in existence.

 

It will be a nightmare for anyone pursuing a claim.

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I feel terribly sorry for these poor people that worked for them without getting paid.

 

If you run a business, you're responsible for your workers, and it's not their fault if the business doesn't work as planned.

 

Unless they signed a workcontract that said: "If the business doesn't make money, you are accepting not getting paid", but who would sign a contract like that ?

 

Peter.

Edited by bargemast
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Just spotted something: :detective:

 

On 12th July, Water Chariots Limited (Company no. 07365092) changed its name to River Subco Limited, and

 

Aghoco 1108 Limited (Company no. 08064572) changed its name to Water Chariots Limited.

 

River Subco Limited is now listed by Companies House as "Active - proposal to strike off"

 

 

Ring-fencing assets prior to official collapse?

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