Making a Complaint

We welcome your feedback about the way that we work. If you have had a good experience with the Canal & River Trust we would love to hear from you. Equally, if your experience was not what you had hoped and you would like to make a complaint we would also like to know.

We always try our best but sometimes we get it wrong or things don’t go according to plan. When this happens your feedback helps us to put things right and learn from our mistakes.

We have a formal procedure for handling complaints. This is because it is important to us that complaints are resolved in a consistent, efficient and fair way.

How do I make a complaint?

It’s always best if you can let us know straight away as most complaints can be sorted out for you quickly by a member of staff. If it’s not possible to let us know at the time you can contact us by email, in writing or by telephone when it’s more convenient.

First Level

Initially your complaint will be investigated by one of our senior managers. They will have overall responsibility for the area of the Trust which your complaint relates to. For example, if your complaint relates to the maintenance of a section of towpath it will be investigated by the local waterway manager.

We will always acknowledge your complaint within five working days and do everything we can to resolve it within 15 working days of our acknowledgement. If, for some reason, this is not possible we will explain why and let you know when you can expect to receive a response.

Second Level

If we are unable to resolve your complaint you can ask us to review it at the second level. At this stage a senior manager or director without responsibility for the area of your complaint will investigate your concerns. This ensures that we take a fresh look at matters.

You can ask us to do this for you by email or in writing to Kelly Radley, Internal Communications & Customer Services Manager, at our head office.

Again, we will acknowledge your complaint within five working days and do everything we can to resolve it within 15 working days of our acknowledgement. If, for some reason, this is not possible we will explain why and let you know when you can expect to receive a response.

Waterways Ombudsman

It might be that you still feel we have not fully resolved your complaint after receiving both first and second level responses. If this is the case then you can ask the Waterways Ombudsman to consider your complaint. 

The Waterways Ombudsman is entirely impartial and independent and can consider complaints about injustice caused to you by maladministration or unfairness by the Trust or its subsidiaries (including BWML – British Waterways Marinas Limited).

More information and details on how to contact the Waterways Ombudsman can be found on this website.