|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 26, 2019 11:58:41 GMT
Mr Deards has proved a considerable disappointment. The latest letter I have received from the ICO, dated 15 November 2019 :–
“We have written to CaRT about their information rights practices. We have told them they should now ensure that:
• all staff attend mandatory data protection training which is routinely tested and refreshed; • all policies and procedures are updated and revised to reflect the new obligations placed on controllers and processors under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018; • they consider a centralised system for noting and responding to access requests to ensure the calendar month deadline is consistently hit.
We have asked the organisation to reconsider their handling of the request for access and that they provide you with a response to your request. We have asked that the organisation complete this within 14 days.”
It remains to be seen whether they comply within the next 3 days; my request had been lodged back on 3 July, with nary an acknowledgement from Mr Deards from that day to this. I did, after several promptings to various others within the governance section, get a note that Mr Deards, who had the information, was on holiday until 2 September.
A nice little note from me on his scheduled return, expressing the hope that he had enjoyed his holiday, and that he had returned to work refreshed and keen to address the overdue matters awaiting his attention, was ignored.
A formal ‘Letter before Action’ a fortnight later elicited a response from Ms Barry, assuring me that my SAR would be dealt with “in due course”. 17 days later, having received nothing, I wrote: “According to the ICO, responses should be made within one calendar month, and it is now nearly triple that time since your receipt of my request. “In due course” would seem to be understood by CaRT as being considerably more elastic than that. I have been unable, however, to find such elasticity in the Data Protection Act 2018 . . .”
The ICO have agreed, and yet even their intervention has yet to provoke compliance.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 25, 2019 15:49:05 GMT
When I retired my first car, a Renault 4, in the field of daisies as promised, I needed another car to drive back to the Pilbara, and bought an FC Holden station wagon from a mate. Some previous owner had home-converted the usual column shift to a floor shift, with no sealing at floor level – something I only discovered when first driving at speed through a flooded section of dirt road. My windscreen was instantly obscured by a fountain of mud that erupted through the gear shift, and needless to say, I was drenched as well. (Was still tarmac at the stage I took that photo)
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 24, 2019 12:41:25 GMT
The EA legislation is a demonstration of the upward creep of unilateral empowerment of navigation authorities; they have more latitude in this respect than do BW/CaRT. The EA MAY exempt boats from the BSSC, but that is at their discretion. There is still scope for challenge, but not specifically over whether exemption should be applied, only as to whether the standards demanded are reasonable in the circumstances - and the requirements for so doing are more onerous for the boater (and a single boater cannot appeal on his behalf alone).
The Environment Agency (Inland Waterways) Order 2010 Part 3
Construction and equipment standards
12.—(1) The Agency may impose in relation to vessels such reasonable standards and specifications relating to construction and equipment for one or more of the following purposes— (a) securing the safety of persons or property; (b) the prevention of damage or injury to persons or property; or (c) the prevention of noise or pollution.
(2) Different standards and specifications may be imposed by the Agency for the purposes of paragraph (1) in relation to different categories of vessels and in relation to different parts of the waterways.
(3) Any such standard or specification imposed by the Agency may include requirements as to the maintenance, use and operation of appliances, fittings and equipment on a vessel and may extend to anything which is only temporarily installed or used on a vessel.
(4) An owner or master of a vessel to which any standard or specification imposed under paragraph (1) applies must not keep, let for hire or use the vessel on the waterways otherwise than in accordance with that standard or specification.
(5) The requirements of paragraph (1) and (4) do not apply in relation to a vessel to the extent that the vessel is exempted by the Agency from those requirements.
(6) The Agency may exempt any vessel or class of vessel from the requirements of paragraph (1) and (4) to such extent and upon such terms and conditions as it may determine if, having regard to all the circumstances, it considers that the application of those requirements is not justified by reference to the purposes listed in the paragraph.
(7) When exercising power under this article, the Agency must have regard to reasonable standards and specifications imposed by other persons for the purposes specified in paragraph (1) and to the desirability of achieving common standards in relation to the regulation of vessels by different persons.
Standards appeals panel
13.—(1) A panel, referred to in this Order as “the standards appeals panel”, must be established by the Agency and operate in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 4.
(2) The standards appeals panel is to determine— (a) any question as to whether a vessel to which this article applies complies with a standard or specification imposed under article 12; and (b) any question as to the reasonableness of a standard or specification prescribed under article 12, if the question is the subject of an application made in accordance with paragraph (3).
(3) An application to refer a question to the standards appeals panel must be made in writing to the Agency and signed by— (a) the owner of the vessel in the case of a question arising under paragraph (2)(a); and (b) not less than six persons, each of whom is the owner of a vessel to which this article applies in the case of a question arising under paragraph (2)(b).
(4) This article applies to a vessel which is either— (a) registered under article 5; or (b) would be registered under article 5 but for a refusal or revocation of registration on the grounds of a failure to comply with standard or specification under article 12.
The article you link to does indeed implicitly suggest that other authorities provide no exemption, but that is of course incorrect. In theory, possession of a "Gold Licence" would be a 'work-around', but in practice such a boat would be unlikely to travel from CaRT waters to EA waters.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 24, 2019 11:09:39 GMT
It is not an optional arrangement. To clarify: the content of the BSS requirements (and their exemptions where applicable) is not arbitrarily and unilaterally determinable by the Board; the determination of the content, and the determination of any dispute over the refusal/withdrawal of a relevant consent by reason of alleged non-compliance, IS set out in statute, viz: Schedule II, Part II of the 1995 Act. All of the Schedule needs reading through to get the gist of the situation, but of most immediate relevance -
12 There shall be a standards appeal panel for the purpose of determining appeals under paragraph 13 below consisting of two persons appointed by the Board and three other persons of whom one each shall be appointed by — (a) the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council; (bit tricky that one) (b) in the case of any appeal relating to a narrow boat or other similar vessel normally used on canals, the Inland Waterways Association, and in the case of any other appeal, the Royal Yachting Association; and (c) the British Marine Industries Federation.
13 Any dispute as to— (a) any refusal or withdrawal by the Board of a relevant consent on the grounds that the vessel does not comply, or has ceased to comply, with the standards applicable to it; or (b) any refusal by the Board of an exemption for which application is made under paragraph 11 above or any condition subject to which an exemption is granted; shall be determined by the standards appeal panel constituted under paragraph 12 above whose decision shall be final and binding on the parties.
I am unclear as to whether this must be a permanently constituted panel, or whether it need only be appointed to deal with an appeal that is made. The fact that different appointees are to be made depending on whether the vessel concerned is a narrowboat or not, suggests to me that a panel is to be convened for the purpose of each appeal.
If that is the case, then it would be sensible for Tony to file a formal appeal, and request a hearing before such a Panel. That would not only demonstrate a punctilious approach on his part, but would additionally clarify the statutory requirements for such a Panel, and highlight whether or not such provisions are being catered for by CaRT.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 21, 2019 10:50:10 GMT
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 21, 2019 4:40:04 GMT
A chapter of one of Gerald Durrell’s books on life in Corfu, recounts the story of his having to leave rescued orphaned hedgehogs in the care of his sister. Despite his strict instructions to monitor food intake, he came back to find them with swollen tummies, with an indignant sister accusing him of cruel neglect, the poor little things being supposedly so hungry they ate everything she could give them.
They all died shortly thereafter. The moral was to ignore greedy demands which would never be satisfied, and just give them what they need (how you are supposed to know what that is escapes me). It’s allegedly a hedgehog trait, so if true you would be killing it by allowing it to eat all it wanted.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 19, 2019 11:03:55 GMT
Not terribly exciting, but just to participate I took this out the kitchen window this morning, with the boats disappearing out of sight as the river is draining down, in anticipation of fresh flood water. The blue ropes are tied to trees across the lawn, as the banks are steeply sloped and the weight of the boats demands exceptional ‘anchoring’ strength (one closer tree had already been partially uprooted). Boats Below Bank
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 16, 2019 21:29:50 GMT
Unfortunately I still have the French and Saunders spoof burned into my brain! The effects of such spoofs can last an eternity. I had once loved Bizet’s Carmen, and will never forgive our 2nd year High School music teacher for playing the Spike Jones version to us. Ever after, even just coming across the name Carmen, I have been fated to hear, squirreling around in my brain: “You’re the honey that’ll sweeten our lives – instead of children we’ll both have hives.”
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 16, 2019 15:20:51 GMT
My reference to Argos bought possessions is neither cheap (I have found that often, Argos isn’t that cheap) nor full of contempt. If you could set aside your faux red-misted outrage for a moment, the point was that the contents of most people’s houses is easy to replace. Obviously not all from Argos, that was a generic idiom for stuff that can be bought in the high street/retail parks. As I said, having your house flooded out is of course most unpleasant, but in the great scheme of things nobody died or was seriously injured. No lasting damage “Stuff” like carpets, furniture, bedding, clothes were lost but easily replaceable. In the interim people will be living warmly and comfortably elsewhere. Not the same as being in one’s own home, of course, but not the end of the world. The loss of shop-bought items can be upsetting, though as purely material objects they are replaceable, at a cost. What ‘even’ the EA recognise in their flood alert advice, is that some goods have a value beyond the merely material, e.g. “ Move important items upstairs or to a safe place in your property, starting with cherished items of personal value that you will not be able to replace (such as family photographs). Next move valuables (such as computers), movable furniture and furnishings.” These days I am able to shrug off the loss of purely material items (even including the Jag, if that turns out to be a lost cause), but I am very thankful that I have been able to rescue most of the more personal memorabilia from years of travel and from childhood times. I am still working through those, and the boat will take weeks of drying out, but at least it is proving possible. Now I have to look at getting new storage racks to erect in Gilly’s garage, so that everything of such value can be stored well above the maximum levels so far experienced. Hopefully the EA will now get their act together in the Fens region; having taken over from the more experienced Internal Drainage Boards, they have a lot of catching up to do regarding learning how to co-ordinate the functions of the various area systems, and realise that looking ahead is paramount. It is important to realise - in situations such as here in the Fens - that the issues go beyond the damage to houses and contents; the very riverbanks are suffering from the now constant rapid draw-downs, and houses high above the flood levels are suffering from adjacent bank subsidence. This affects the roads alongside as well, and the local council have already had to re-camber some sections. They are also now working with the EA to install proper piling of the banks, to prevent further damage to roads and the associated drains. What struck me most in this particular little community, was how cheerful everybody was while the utterly unprecedented flooding was rising around all their houses. Everyone waving to each other and having a smile at the excitement of new experience, with great new photographic opportunities, and the opportunity to brag about who was worst affected. A few days later and most turned up for a BBQ and fireworks in excellent humour, with only one of the neighbours sufficiently disgruntled to talk about holding the local council to account. Personally I cannot see why the council should be blamed; the fire brigade were splendid as ever, turning up in anticipation and even after midnight getting their pumps going to return flood water from gardens back over the bank into the river, once that was able to flow once more. I remember back in 2008/9 (I think) and 2014, the council made the local village hall available to house those who were in danger of flooding then; and many did take that opportunity, although the height was nothing like what we experienced this year, and our then eldest resident of some 87 years refused to move, even though otherwise delighted at the offer to be carried away in the arms of a burly fireman. She offered them a cup of tea instead, and pointed out that if the river rose too high, she had her dinghy moored at the end of the porch which she could use to escape. The difference this time, was that the EA were caught on the hop while employees were on their weekend break, and the residents got only about 25 minutes warning.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 15, 2019 10:18:58 GMT
I think you are sadly missing the most important point - this demonstrates the caring side of CaRT; it shows their high degree of concern for the safety and convenience of their employees.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 9, 2019 21:24:21 GMT
(if you need any bits from Finland we can bring them over at Xmas) (bringing a rucksack this time) Much appreciated, but until I have time and occasion to check it out properly, I won't know what is needed - unless you can source a Jaguar OBD1 diagnostic tool.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 9, 2019 21:17:05 GMT
That's the old straight six version with the blower rather than the V8. I had a go in one of those a few years back but was too tall and thin to fit in it properly They do go quite well. They "go" beautifully. Last of the British built engines I believe, before they started putting Fords in.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 9, 2019 21:15:15 GMT
DI water sounds like something you'd find in a police station toilet. If that was the case the job's done already. Part of the problem in the aftermath of these situations is the flooding of all the septic tanks; no mains sewerage beyond the black stump.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 9, 2019 21:12:51 GMT
Not insured, has been stored in my sister's garage awaiting a new exhaust system. Battery will have been dead, which might be a good thing? Still has water in the boot, but the boats are taking priority at the moment. The ECU was already compromised, and seems impossible to replace, because this is a 1995 model XJR, and everything after that has a different connector. If the battery is dead that is a good thing. When you get round to it any electronic modules that have dried out will have a film of powder left behind from what ever was in the water. Probably best given a wash in DI water (battery/steam iron water). Good tip, thanks. Will remember when the time comes.
|
|
|
Post by NigelMoore on Nov 9, 2019 20:53:39 GMT
Thanks. Bit far away, but every bit of info re: contacts will be helpful when I have time to address this. There is actually a specialist near Boston, who occasionally makes visits to the area for old customers, but he is hard to get hold of.
|
|