Summer 2011 may not have been the sunniest on record but for River Canal Rescue it’s certainly been the busiest.
Over the period from March to the end of August 2011 RCR received 40% more calls than over the same period last year. This increase in demand underlined RCR’s recent recruitment drive which saw two more engineers out on the road. Despite this the company are still looking for another engineer to cover London and the K&A, and with boat traffic expected to increase in the area on the run up to the 2012 Olympics, the new member of the team could be busy .
During the 2011 summer season over 200 calls were made for cable problems, 180 battery related and 125 were fuel problems (including running out of fuel all together). It’s felt that one of the reasons for boater experiencing problems this year is the economic situation. With money being in short supply it’s thought that an increasing number of boaters are skipping their boats regular service. In addition with many people opting to take a boat holiday rather than go abroad, if the vessel has not been used regularly the essential repairs may have been overlooked with the result that more boats are experiencing breaking down. With boatyards reporting an increase in “repair rather than replace” jobs it could well be the case that boaters are cutting back.
In these harsh economic times it’s easy to see why this happens but as RCR’s MD, Stephanie Horton commented recently, “it really is false economy to cut back on servicing and repairs, and as has happened in a number of cases, can result in a serious accident or damage when something fails at a critical time” Stephanie added, “we are always looking for ways to help our member deal with some of the simpler issues and we have produced a Breakdown Advice sheet which can help owners identify and sort our many simple problems, so if anyone would like a copy please drop us a line at enquiries@rivercanalrescue.co.uk and we’ll happily send you a copy.”
With prevention always being better than a cure it’s worth dropping RCR a line to pick up a copy of the advice sheet or for more information on RCR’s range of services visit their website at www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk
