40 boat owners prosecuted

More than £55,000 is to be paid after 40 boat owners were prosecuted as part of a crackdown on unregistered vessels in the Thames.

Boat owners at Surrey’s Penton Hook Marina were handed the fines by Stains Magistrates Court for failing to register their vessels despite warnings in an ongoing operation by the Environment Agency (EA)

The unregistered boats were found by enforcement officers carrying out spot checks during November and December 2024 whilst on river patrols.

This enforcement action follows on from 14 previous boating offenders being prosecuted for registration evasion.

In total around a quarter of the boats in the marina – around 125 vessels – were found to have failed to have been registered. The boat owners were traced and given warning and opportunity to register their boats correctly.

“If you have an unregistered boat on the Thames, you should know that our enforcement teams remain out all winter patrolling the river, checking valid registrations and taking action against those who cheat their fellow boaters,” said Colin Chiverton, environment manager at the Environment Agency in Surrey.

“As our recent prosecutions clearly demonstrate, we will have no hesitation in bringing further offenders to court who avoid their obligations and responsibilities to lawful river users.”

The EA says it has changed its approach to non-registration on the Thames.

Boat owners are given ample opportunity to register their boat. However, once a summons has been issued, court proceedings will continue, even if the boat owner subsequently pays their registration fee.

Boat registration fees allow the EA to manage and maintain more than 600 miles of inland waterways across England.

Owners of powered or non-powered boats, including paddleboards, must register their boats annually with the EA for use on the non-tidal River Thames.

In mid-September 2024 during a river wide census, EA officers recorded the locations of 10,890 boats on the river.