Two people working in the Canal & River Trust’s enforcement team have helped reunite a stolen boat with its rightful owner after they spotted something suspicious in their boat sightings. The boat owner and the Trust have praised data checker Nathan Arries and enforcement officer Liz Sollars for their initiative and support.
The alarm was raised when Nathan spotted an unidentified boat displaying only a name and sent in the details to the local team. When Liz was looking over the sightings, she realized there was only one boat of that name on the Trust’s database, and called the owner to check if it was the same craft. While the owner was describing the boat, and how it was currently in a marina, it became obvious that it was the same vessel. Someone had taken it from the marina, and was now cruising away with it.
The theft was reported to the police and Liz put all the Trust’s local teams, from enforcement to customer service, to the people working on the canal, on high alert. Nathan followed up a lead the owner had passed on and, confirming that it was the same boat, waited for the police and the rightful owner to get there. With the boat returned, the police are now searching for the thief.
Paul Griffin, enforcement operations manager at the Canal & River Trust, said: “It’s great that this story has a happy ending and the boat has found its way back home. I’d like to say a big thank you to Nathan and Liz for pulling out all the stops to track down and return the vessel to its rightful owner. Our team’s presence on the bank can be vital in situations like this. Boat thefts are, thankfully, rare and we do everything we can to support boaters. If a vessel goes missing we’d encourage boaters to tell the police in the first instance, and to get in touch with their local enforcement team so we can work together to try and track down the boat safely.”
Details for the enforcement team can be found here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/licensing-your-boat/enforcement