The annual survey was completed in March, with Canal & River Trust staff visiting over 31,000 boats on waterways in England & Wales. It provides a comprehensive snap-shot of licence evasion, with the information used to support the day-to-day enforcement work.
Simon Salem, Canal & River Trust marketing director, said: “It's positive news that licence evasion has remained below 4%, following the record low of last year. We are now seeing year-on-year consistency, with four consecutive years below 5%, and is particularly encouraging when you consider evasion was over 10% just over five years ago.
“I would like to thank boaters who continue to renew their licences on time, it enables us to save time, effort and ultimately money that can better spent on improving the waterways. We remain committed to reducing the evasion rate in the future and one area of particular focus will be tackling overstaying.”
During 2012/13, the enforcement team removed 72 boats from the network that had failed to obtain a licence or were in breach of other terms and conditions of their licence.
