As part of having any kind of boat licence, all boats need to move every 14 days (or sooner depending on the mooring sign), unless you’re on your home mooring of course.
Checking boat licences in London
One of the great things about boating is the freedom to tie up almost anywhere. But with around 34,000 boats sharing 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, some rules to fairly share the mooring space are helpful.
These rules are set out in your licence terms and conditions – and mooring time limits apply to all boats - no matter what type of licence you have.
Please respect the time limits
Whether you are a continuous cruiser or cruising away from your home mooring, everyone’s boat licence includes permission to tie up for a short time along the towpath. These are either:
- 14 days (no longer)
- 7 days
- 48 hours
- Or whatever length of time the sign along the towpath shows if you’re at a visitor mooring
Share the mooring space
If you need to stay somewhere longer, please be sensitive to other boaters' short term mooring needs and if need be, find a home mooring.
Tell us if you have an emergency
If you need to stay longer because your boat’s broken down, you’ve had an incident or accident or become ill, please contact your local boat licence customer support officer or call 0303 040 4040 as soon as possible - we can talk you through your options.
Recording all boat movements
Have you met one of our local monitoring teams or rangers on the towpaths?
They monitor all boat movements (not just continuous cruisers) and help to make sure everyone keeps to their licence terms and conditions. When our team record the location of a boat, they mark which kilometre of waterway it’s on.
Continuous cruising monitoring process
Early in 2015 we introduced a new process to monitor the movement of boats without a home mooring (continuous cruisers). Here you’ll find some information about how we monitor these boat movements, why we have to do it, and what it might mean for you:
- As a continuous cruiser, it’s your responsibility to remember the rules – see our guidance for boaters without a home mooring
- Here are some more frequently asked questions about the continuous cruising monitoring process
- See the steps we take when a continuous cruising licence comes up for renewal
- Each year we publish a report on the monitoring process
- Find out more about the work we do to support vulnerable boaters
What happens if boats don't move on?
If our boat licence customer support team record that a boat hasn't moved after 14 days (of less depending on the visitor sign), whether they're on a visitor mooring or just mooring on the towpath, we'll send that boater a '14 day reminder' letter.
Last date edited: 25 March 2019