The winter environment and canal locale can present many challenges for long term mooring customers; expectations of which services Waterside mooring can provide out of hours or holiday periods are not always clear.
Breakdowns can be difficult and frustrating, but if we are unfortunate to suffer a breakdown it is helpful to understand what our response times and actions are likely to be.
The purpose of this note is to promote consistency in decisions when handling emergency or out of hour call outs on directly managed moorings managed by Waterside Mooring (classed as L1 moorings [1] or directly managed moorings). It sets out the level of service that a mooring customer can expect, with some extra clarification about response times for different types of problem.
Please note that one article could never detail the huge range of problems that could occur, we offer guidance on the most frequent or requested. If you experience a significant issue or problem on the mooring please do contact our out of hours team on 0800 4799947 or for wider, or less urgent enquiries, not related to any emergency, contact Waterside Mooring on 03030 40 40 40 or email waterside.mooring-enquiries@canalrivertrust.org.uk during business hours.
Typical guidance & advice is provided below:
Frozen water pipes: The default position is to do nothing, since any ‘thawing’ is likely to have only a very limited chance of success.
Mooring Agreement Terms & conditions 6.9 provides guidance on this:
6.9 The Boat must have a minimum level of on-board facilities to allow the ability to be self-sufficient (including the provision of portable water storage with toilets connected and wash cubicles). We reserve the right to request confirmation from you upon renewing your use of the Mooring that your Boat has the required basic facilities prior to occupancy at the Mooring Site.
Therefore, as the customer we are expecting you to have such services as to sustain yourself for a period of time if the onshore services fail or becomes unavailable. Allowing such time as repairs can be put in place, interim solutions provided and/or until normal working is resumed. Where a supply is frozen for an extended period, we will review this accordingly.
Pump Out: A distinction is made between frozen or broken down. If frozen, then we wait for the thaw out. For a defective pump out, the first response is to try and fix the unit.
If the problem is sewage leaking or overflowing, we will respond to that call on the same or next day as appropriate.
SMART Bollard failures or problems
In the event of failure in out of hours;
Before any call is placed carry out cursory checks of equipment before calling to make sure any cables are in good order and not allowing water ingress, that plugs/sockets are of sound construction and any electrical goods are working as they should be, with all trips reset and in working order.
If the problem remains, despite these checks; Advise the out of hours team accordingly for further advice and assistance, following their guidance & instruction as necessary. It is vital that information such as your name, site name & type (found in your welcome pack), bollard number and the nature of the fault are presented at the time of the call.
As part of the solution diagnosis; It is crucial that some key questions are answered in relation to the electrical outage, these questions protect both the Trust and the customer and provide a quicker response.
These are detailed in the T&Cs each user signs up to on the Meter Macs portal. We need to ensure that you, as the customer, are aware of the terms and conditions 1.3 and 1.4 specifically and provide clear responses if requested.
1.3. In the event that you experience unscheduled power outages or faults with your electricity supply, you agree to check that your electricity cables have been installed correctly, are being used correctly and your account sign-in details have been entered correctly before contacting CRT.
Therefore, as the customer it is important to confirm you have checked shore supply cables, plugs or other ancillary equipment which may be broken or defective or which might give rise to an obvious problem, as per condition 1.4. You will have checked your login details to ensure these have been entered correctly.
1.4. If you continue to experience problems with your electricity supply (after conducting checks in accordance with clause 1.3, above) you should report the problem to CRT. An engineer will be called out (on the next working day) to assess the problem and to attempt to repair any faults or arrange for an exchange of parts. We reserve the right to charge you for any callout if the fault is found to be with your connecting cables, electrical installation or resulting from incorrectly entered account details.
More information on actions you can take to check you’re equipment can be found using this link, Smart meter checks
Details on the logging in process can be found on the Meter macs YouTube channel, located using this link, Metermacs
If you choose not to or refuse to confirm such cable checks or any other checks relevant to the problem – The call may be closed at that point until a waterside mooring representative can make contact to obtain further information about the nature of the problem – this is likely to be the next business working day.
If assistance is required then a remote fix will be attempted, but if such a repair cannot be applied at the time or a repair cannot be made remotely then we may call a contractor to resolve the issue depending on the severity of the incident and conditions at that time.
A great many fixes can be made remotely and will not require any physical attendance.
If the outage is likely to extend past 5 days due to bank holidays or extended holiday periods such as Christmas, irrespective of mooring type, the Trust will endeavour to repair such problems much sooner. Please note that this applies from the date the report was made and received. We cannot retrospectively apply a start date to bring forward a repair.
Elsan units: If the unit is blocked, it should remain out of use until business hours where contractor will be actioned. If the unit is frozen then it should be secured to prevent use until it can be resolved. If it is leaking effluent, then it’s likely a contractor will be called to clear.
As a mooring customer you should seek the nearest available Elsan unit, details of locations can be found on the Canal & River trust facilities map, Boat facilities and services
Lockable gates and gates: Locks may be seized up or damaged and urgent attention is needed if the gate in question is the sole access to the site, or if the site is in an area of higher security risk. Security boundaries will only be repaired on Residential sites during out of hours or bank holidays.
These notes cover a very small spectrum of the problems we can face, therefore should other problems arise that are considered an emergency, please do contact our out of hours team on 0800 4799947 or by visiting our contacting us in an emergency for more information on what to do in the event of an emergency.
If the issue is of a non-serious nature, then contact can be made direct to waterside moorings on 03030 40 40 40 where a representative will make contact on the 1st available working day.
Alternatively, the links below will provide additional information and FAQ’s for common enquiries
Waterside Mooring, Standard Mooring Terms & Conditions issued April 2021 (PDF)
Waterside Mooring Team contacts here
Waterside Mooring Frequently Asked Questions and responses - Waterside moorings FAQ
Canal & River Trust website: www.canalrivertrust.org.uk