Disabled Moorings

[Jennifer McM]

Noticed for the first time, disabled moorings. We were at Braunston. We moored up for just under an hour while we visited a shop in the marina. When we got back we realised part of the boat was moored in a disabled area.

 

Questions are;

 

If there's no other moorings available, and the disabled area is empty, are boats allowed to moor in this area?

 

How 'bad' was our ignorance?

 

 

[Keeping Up]

When those moorings were created, and similar ones at other locations such as Weedon and Stoke Bruerne, the stated position was that absolutely anyone could moor there but that priority must be given to any boat with a disabled person on board.

 

Quite how this would work in practice seems uncertain. Even BW (as it was then) said they did not know what the situation would be if a disabled person wished to use the mooring but there was a boat already there; they didn't really care because by painting some bollards orange they had achieved a tick in the box on some piece of paper somewhere.

 

So no you haven't committed any sort of transgression. Of course, in your ignorance you may incur the wrath of others whose ignorance is equal to - or greater than - your own, especially if they are the sort of person who loves to be offended on behalf of someone else.

[Dave Payne]

How do you tell if a boater has a legit reason to class themselve as disabled, in a car you have a sticker/card you put in the window, nothing on a boat though?

 

What if someone pulls up and claims they are disabled, but show no signs of walking problems?

[Dave_P]

It's a bit of a cock-up isn't it?

 

There's also a disabled spot on Gas Street, Birmingham.

 

By the VMs at Diglis, Worcester, there's a disabled spot just inside the basin (turn left, facing downstream), it's worth mentioning it to the Harbourmaster though.

[b0atman]

I would apply the same rules no blue badge no priority

I put my blue badge in the boat window when moored on disabled mooring at Thrupp then got told by one of their upthemselves berks that it was for one of their members only ? I stayed BW gave them too much power and CRT condone them taking up the towpath.

[Machpoint005]

I put my blue badge in the boat window when moored on disabled mooring at Thrupp then got told by one of their upthemselves berks that it was for one of their members only ? I stayed BW gave them too much power and CRT condone them taking up the towpath.

 

Presumably the answer to that is that the member can have it if he or she happens to turn up?

Not much point in reserving it if the boat in question was more than a day away!

[BlueStringPudding]

Quick answer is no - disabled mooring is like disabled parking.

CRT staff ask to see for evidence like your blue badge - at least that was the case about five years ago. I know because I was asked once when my drive plate died at the water point and I bow hauled my boat off it to the only other place I could get it to a few feet away so I was no longer blocking the water point but which was labeled as a disabled mooring spot. For which I was promptly reported (within minutes!) and a CRT staff member who lived aboard nearby came over and told me that I "don't look disabled" (famous last words to say to someone who works in the disability sector if you don't want a lecture on disability awareness, invisible illness and where to obtain training on how to speak with people who may or may not be disabled or chronically ill). I wrote to her boss to offer my company's services.

 

Anyway, I was off the mooring again as soon as I had help to shift the boat. The CRT woman wasn't going to be the one to help me, it transpired. So it seems she didn't care all that much about the principle at stake at all.

 

But like all facilities for disabled people, they exist to enable people with impairments to have a fighting chance of enjoying a quality of life on par with those of us not battling disability every day, so we ought not to be using their facilities at all even for a few minutes "just to..." do something that we think isn't going to inconvenience anyone. We can kid ourselves that the chances of a disabled person turning up are slim but the reality is that there are millions of people living compromised lives through far more than obvious disabilities that require wheelchairs and walking sticks. Everything from pain conditions to asthma, fatiguing illnesses, arthritis, heart conditions, stroke, balance issues, visual impairment and acquired impairments with old age all are made safer by accessible mooring facilities. That's a lot of boaters and their friends and families who are not just inconvenienced but potentially put through more pain or experience more risk because of non-disabled people taking the most convenient spot to moor - however well meaning their intentions. It can be easy to not notice a disabled facility sign. But this thread is good for raising awareness that there are some out there and it's good to look out for the signage and free the spaces up.

Edited October 26, 2016 by BlueStringPudding

[Dave Payne]

if you CC with no car though, can you still get a blue badge?

 

Maybe CRT should offer the same system, unless they do already?

[BlueStringPudding]

if you CC with no car though, can you still get a blue badge?

 

Maybe CRT should offer the same system, unless they do already?

Yes. The Blue Badge is for the person not the vehicle. You don't even have to be able to drive. That way the disabled person can be driven by friends or carers and they can park in disabled parking spaces while dropping the disabled person off and displaying that person's blue badge.

 

Blue badges are obtained from local authorities with proof of entitlement, not from the DVLA

 

Let's not have CRT spending more money on bureaucracy when councils are doing that already. Disabled people have enough hoops to leap through getting acknowledgment and recognition of their rights as it is.

Edited October 26, 2016 by BlueStringPudding

[Dave Payne]

ahh thats good then.

[Sea Dog]

Surely, wherever practical, (almost) all of us would be entirely happy to move our boat and then raft up on the outside to allow a disabled boater easy access?

[Flyboy]

Hayward lock on the T&M has a disabled lock landing below it. The bollards are raised presumably to allow a wheelchair user to tie up. I've never seen any disabled person using it.

[Keeping Up]

This thread shows that there is definitely some ignorance about these moorings, including possibly amongst CRT staff unless there has been a definite (and unpublicised) change of policy since their creation. I do know that my comment in post #2 about their original creation having been that of a shared space with priority to the disabled - unlike that of a car parking space - was definitive; back then as local IWA Branch Chairman I was directly involved in the discussions with the then BW Regional Waterways Manager.

 

Having said that I do not normally moor on them, but if I did feel the need to use one I would not leave the boat unattended. Instead i would ensure that I remained available to move the boat out of the way (possibly returning to breast up outside) and also to lend assistance if necessary.

[BlueStringPudding]

Yes, Sea Dog.

 

I think the idea is that a disabled person ought not to have to wait for another boater to move from their designated spot though. Not to mention mooring somewhere less safe while trying to find the owner of the boat in the disabled mooring space (which is harder to do when your mobility is impaired anyway and rather defeats the point) and then feel like they're putting them out by asking them to move. It's far more equitable to simply not use the designated disabled mooring spaces at all if you're not a disabled person.

 

Same goes for parking spaces.

Edited October 26, 2016 by BlueStringPudding

[Sea Dog]

Yes, Sea Dog.

 

I think the idea is that a disabled person ought not to have to wait for another boater to move from their designated spot though. Not to mention mooring somewhere less safe while trying to find the owner of the boat in the disabled mooring space (which is harder to do when your mobility is impaired anyway and rather defeats the point) and then feel like they're putting them out by asking them to move. It's far more equitable to simply not use the designated disabled mooring spaces at all if you're not a disabled person.

 

Same goes for parking spaces.

I meant on any moorings BSP - I wouldn't be moored on any reserved ones.

[BlueStringPudding]

I meant on any moorings BSP - I wouldn't be moored on any reserved ones.

 

That's one of the things I love about boaters. Most are like you, Sea Dog - with a genuine sense of being helpful and a community spirit (in a meaningful sense of the term).

 

[Jennifer McM]

 

That's one of the things I love about boaters. Most are like you, Sea Dog - with a genuine sense of being helpful and a community spirit (in a meaningful sense of the term).

 

Y

 

Totally agree.

 

This topic would make a good article in one of the waterway's publications.

 

Thank you for the explanations. As BlueStringPudding states, disability can take many forms, it's not just about 'walking badly'.

 

This would be a great project for someone in the C&RT to really get to grips with.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Jennifer McM

[MaggieMay]

When I was about 18/19 two friends and I hired a boat from Maid Boats (near Thames Ditton IIRC) and spent an extremely enjoyable two weeks travelling to Oxford and back. I think it was the best holiday I have ever had.

 

Now much older, and disabled, I have been reading this website for sometime, trying to decide whether it would be worth my while trying to persuade my husband that my mobility issues would not preclude our hiring a narrowboat. This is the first mention that I have seen of moorings specifically aimed at disabled people. Could someone please tell me exactly how the signs describe these moorings, so that I can search for details of their whereabouts with a view to route planning?

[Jennifer McM]

When I was about 18/19 two friends and I hired a boat from Maid Boats (near Thames Ditton IIRC) and spent an extremely enjoyable two weeks travelling to Oxford and back. I think it was the best holiday I have ever had.

 

Now much older, and disabled, I have been reading this website for sometime, trying to decide whether it would be worth my while trying to persuade my husband that my mobility issues would not preclude our hiring a narrowboat. This is the first mention that I have seen of moorings specifically aimed at disabled people. Could someone please tell me exactly how the signs describe these moorings, so that I can search for details of their whereabouts with a view to route planning?

 

I noticed the disabled sign on a mooring bollard, eg.

 

 

There's quite a few websites that appear to help https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=canal%20mooring%2C%20disabled

 

Good luck, and enjoy your great holiday!

[8 Hairy Feet]

When I was about 18/19 two friends and I hired a boat from Maid Boats (near Thames Ditton IIRC) and spent an extremely enjoyable two weeks travelling to Oxford and back. I think it was the best holiday I have ever had.

 

Now much older, and disabled, I have been reading this website for sometime, trying to decide whether it would be worth my while trying to persuade my husband that my mobility issues would not preclude our hiring a narrowboat. This is the first mention that I have seen of moorings specifically aimed at disabled people. Could someone please tell me exactly how the signs describe these moorings, so that I can search for details of their whereabouts with a view to route planning?

Not really what you are looking for ;www.safeanchor.org.uk/ , but there may be

something similar in your area and I have definitely

seen somewhere a hire boat with easy access for wheelchairs

but can't remember where.... I will have a search about for you.

 

eta Found one! "Beatrice" from Hillmorton on the North Oxford...

I dare say there are others too

Edited October 27, 2016 by 8 Hairy Feet

[Sea Dog]

Could someone please tell me exactly how the signs describe these moorings, so that I can search for details of their whereabouts with a view to route planning?

I'm not constantly on the look out for disabled moorings, so there may be far more than I've seen, but I would think you'd struggle to plan a route around them. Not for any reasons of a lack of consideration, but due to the practicalities. It can be hard enough for any of us to find moorings of any kind where and when we'd like, not least because there just isn't the frontage for there to be room for everyone. Mostly though, if you can manage with a grass verge and a towpath, then you'll be ok.

 

If you need a dead level landing and a paved walkway, you're not going to find that everywhere you go, and certainly not in the middle of nowhere where we often end up moored when travelling. I'd like to think that, wherever you go, you'd find most boating folk pretty accommodating and willing to help in any way they can though.

 

I've met quite a few boaters with mobility restrictions who seem to manage perfectly well and others who have no disability at all yet find canal boating too arduous for them. I guess the whole thing comes down to a personal level, but there are a few charities who can get folks with quite a wide range of abilities out on the canals. Hopefully someone who has first hand experience will be along shortly to share their views and perhaps suggest a cruising route which they feel could be particularly suitable for you.

 

Best wishes with your quest: I do hope you get chance to thoroughly enjoy a suitable boating experience.

[8 Hairy Feet]

I do apologise Maggie May i didn't

read your post properly... D'oh...

disabled moorings

[Machpoint005]

 

Presumably the answer to that is that the member can have it if he or she happens to turn up?

Not much point in reserving it if the boat in question was more than a day away!

 

 

Quick answer is no - disabled mooring is like disabled parking.

>>> t this thread is good for raising awareness that there are some out there and it's good to look out for the signage and free the spaces up.

 

I agree wholeheartedly, but just for the avoidance of doubt I was talking here about the one 'disabled' (ie accessible) mooring which was allegedly for one member's use only.

 

I would not condone the temporary use of a mooring designated for the general use of disabled people any more than I condone the idiots in Wilmslow tractors who park in the 'parent and children' spaces at supermarkets. It's the usual sense of entitlement which is all too prevalent these days.

[MaggieMay]

No worries, 8 Hairy Feet! It was very kind of you to look up what you did for me. That www.safeanchor.org.uk site was very interesting (but I wouldn't feel comfortable about not paying).

 

I am not confined to a wheelchair indoors, although I have recently had to start using one outdoors as I cannot walk very far now. I think my main issue for boating would be getting on and off the boat as my balance is shot to pieces. I would certainly need a hand to steady me, and walking on grass on my own is difficult unless it is very short and lawn like.

 

I have wondered about a hotel boat but we like the freedom of our own timetable, and they are a bit expensive.

 

Thanks to Jennifer McM and Sea Dog for your replies too, all food for thought.

[pearley]

I have to admit that we have moored overnight on a mooring designated disabled. It was 23 December 2014 on the pontoon at Limehouse. I took the view as in other posts that a disabled boater took priority and I should move if requested. And I was fairly certain that a disabled boater was unlikely to appear.