Furious locals living along a popular London canal are battling against antisocial behaviour after boat party revellers were caught performing sex acts in public and using their gardens as toilets.
Residents with houses along the quaint Little Venice canal now fear there will be a surge in if London boat hire company GoBoat UK is granted an alcohol licence.
They said the company had previously operated with an alcohol licence, allowing people to drink on board without supervision.
This led to a spike of vile and antisocial behaviour in the area, with boaters caught performing sex acts in public, urinating and defecating in people’s gardens, and even flashing ‘in front of children’.
Locals also claimed drunk boat drivers often crashed into their vessels, were ‘loud and aggressive’ and some also ‘engaged in drug use’.
But GoBoat is now looking to launch a new service ‘designed to enhance customer experience’, which will allow boaters to drink on board while being supervised by ‘a qualified skipper’.
The company stressed that the service ‘is not a return to unsupervised drinking, but a controlled, high-quality alternative’ and added that their self drive boats will remain ‘strictly alcohol-free’.
Even with this promise, the application has received dozens of objections, including from the Environmental Health Service which claimed the licence would likely cause an increase in ‘public nuisance and may impact public safety’.
Pictured: Groups of people using the rental GoBoats in the west London canal. There is no suggestion they were behaving in an unruly manner
Residents with houses along the quaint Little Venice saw boaters performing sex acts in public, urinating and defecating in people’s gardens and even flashing ‘in front of children’. Pictured: An image of two GoBoat users appearing to urinate in public
A woman appears to be urinating in public. Residents fear there will be a surge in this sort of anti-social behaviour if the licence is granted to GoBoat UK
GoBoat is also seeking to transform a small, square shipping container into a kiosk for selling alcohol to customers at its site in Merchant Square, Paddington.
The company said the site manages 16 rental boats and a narrowboat which won’t be used for selling alcohol.
It applied for the alcohol licence in February this year, which would allow it to sell alcohol between 9am and 10pm from Mondays to Sundays.
But the application received objections from residents just weeks later, calling for the application to be denied given the previous behaviour of some GoBoat users.
One resident claimed the company had previously had ‘problems with customers drinking on board the boats’.
This included ‘boorish behaviour, indecent exposure, urinating on to the towpath, mooning, threats of violence towards boat owners and quite a bit more’.
‘We residents on the canal have quite enough to deal with… cyclists, pedestrians, dog-owners allowing their pets to defecate all over the towpath without rowdy, antisocial behaviour by GoBoat punters,’ the resident added.
Another objector also wrote: ‘I absolutely object to this – the last time the GoBoaters were allowed alcohol, I had people peeing onto the side of my boat, appalling driving as they carelessly bashed into the boats. Screaming through the tunnels. Absolutely not. Please God no.’
A group of people operating the GoBoats can be seen crashing into the side of a parked barge along the canal
A group of boaters can be seen blocking the canal after getting in the way of a barge driver
Three GoBoats can be seen driving along the canal. Locals claimed some users often crash into their boats, and were ‘loud and aggressive’
A third outraged boat owner added: ‘On multiple occasions, individuals urinated on my boat, engaged in drug use, and exhibited inappropriate behavior such as public nudity.
‘Additionally, loud music, shouting, and loud singing from the Goboats caused significant disturbance to local residents, both boaters and those living in nearby housing.’
Another person claimed they had seen 40 incidents of ‘chaotic and unsafe’ behaviour ranging from ‘public urination in gardens, indecent exposure, and flashing in front of children’.
They said that instead of granting the licence, ‘stricter enforcement’ should be implemented to ensure users ‘respect public safety and community well-being’.
Another furious boat owner claimed GoBoat users would hang onto their boat and cause massive disruption when the company previously allowed alcohol on board.
‘It caused massive disruption; Shouting, loud music, insults, drug taking. People falling in the water, crashing with other craft, nudity, urinating in my garden,’ they added.
One local also claimed they had ‘personally witnessed’ wildlife being chased and killed and people jumping off the boats at the Maida Tunnel entrance to ‘urinate even defecate in our gardens’.
‘I do not understand how this application can even be considered, to sell alcohol to customers who are then going to be in charge of a moving vessel with virtually zero training in one of the busiest stretches of canal in London,’ they added.
GoBoat is also seeking to transform a small, square shipping container into a kiosk for selling alcohol to customers at its site in Merchant Square, Paddington
The kiosk would be able to sell alcohol between 9am and 10pm from Mondays to Sundays, if the alcohol licence is approved
Despite the barrage of criticism, the application did receive one letter of support. They wrote: ‘The water needs to attract all, it needs diversity, and a bottle of something on the slow sojourn to is too perfect to deny to people.
‘Plus those are the people who tend to be fun, and to retrieve stuff for me when I have dropped it in.’
Grant Sweeney, co-founder of GoBoat London, said: ‘GoBoat Luxe represents a completely different approach to our operations, featuring professionally qualified skippers with Power Boat Level 2 certifications who will drive the boats while remaining sober, ensuring that no customers are drinking alcohol and driving a boat at our Paddington location.
‘The Luxe service includes strict alcohol consumption limits, bag checks, ranger boat patrols to ensure responsible operation, and has received approval from Canal & River Trust, demonstrating confidence in our professional approach.’
