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License It Or Loose It!

If you see what you believe is an unlicensed boat, why not use the British Waterways Online Boat Checker

We believe that many boaters have got into the habit of contacting British Waterways on an ad hoc basis when they see boats that appear to be unlicensed.

To help you; British Waterways have developed an ONLINE CHECKER to help make this process of voluntary reporting more efficient for both boaters and BW.

The online boat license checker saves everyone time involved in making the manual checks as many times the search often reveal that the boat is in fact licensed, but not displaying it.

Even though BW regularly patrol every stretch of waterway using handheld Samsung Q1 computers that record the location via a GPS and a link to the license database and whenever they find an unlicensed boat, create a 'notification' for the enforcement teams to investigate.

Additional sightings made by waterway users can provide a useful supplement to this ongoing process.

You can tell BW about an unlicensed boat they weren't already aware of and they will create a notification.

To check whether a boat is licensed, just enter its index number in the checker.

If the boat is not licensed, you will be able to report your sighting to BW. Each fully completed form will be logged in their 'sightings' database and assigned a priority for action.

The information BW display to you on their site is permitted under the terms of the BW Data Protection Act's registration.

BW does not issue licences to its own workboats. A separate fleet management system includes ensuring that all of their boats comply with safety requirements.