Showing posts with label moorings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moorings. Show all posts

Secretary Of State Involved in Taylors Boatyard Repair

Rt Hon Vince Cable, Secretary Of State received news of the behaviour and practices of cowboy boatyard operators JP Marine UK Ltd operating out of Taylors Boatyard in Chester. We will bring you the latest news as it unfolds.

secretary,state,narrowboats,live,aboard,rights,house,commons
Taylors Boatyard is the historical name of a once highly reputed boat yard in Chester in the Northwest UK. The boatyard and dry docks are presently leased by limited company JP Marine, who advertise themselves as "Marine Surveyors & Engineers" and perform welding to narrowboats and other vessels in the Chester area without any formal qualification or certification by any accredited professional marine body in the United Kingdom. Contact Canal Angels

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY  

MP Lobby's Parliament on Narrowboat Couple Case


MP Mark Tamim has represented the couple's plight to Parliament after they were left homeless outside Taylors Boatyard in Chester after their vessel was deemed un-insurable as a direct result of works carried out by JP Marine UK Ltd.

Taylors Boatyard is the historical name of a once highly reputed boat yard in Chester in the Northwest UK. The boatyard and dry docks are presently leased by limited company JP Marine, who advertise themselves as "Marine Surveyors & Engineers" and perform welding to narrowboats and other vessels in the Chester area without any formal qualification or certification by any accredited professional marine body in the United Kingdom. Contact Canal Angels

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY


Taylors Boatyard Chester Named & Shamed

canal,angels,overplating,taylors,boatyard,dry,dock,jp,marine

Canal Angels has just received news of a couple who are to lobby parliament for a change in law after an unscrupulous boatyard operator rendered them homeless and breached the Human Rights Act, they claim. After receiving sub-standard work to their narrowboat home, the couple tested the works conducted by  JP Marine UK Ltd at Taylors Boatyard dry dock in Chester, which was verfiried as having "significant defects" by independent marine surveyors Inspection Consultants Ltd (Incon).  They are now preparing to lobby parliament for a change in the law which fails to recognise their live-aboard narrowboat as a dwelling home affording them the same rights as bricks and mortar home owners and caravan owner-occupiers.  A local MP is working with the couple in their plight to recover their home, and bring charges of alleged criminal damage against Taylors Boatyard operator JP Marine UK Ltd after they denied the couple access to their home and placed it in a state of peril. This was after the couple had paid the boatyard £6,000 for "works". In a statement by the couple:

"the consequences of the actions of Taylors Boatyard have far reaching consequences for the operator, as well as serious ramifications for all those who presently live on board a watercraft, be it a narrowboat, dutch barge or GRP cruiser. Boatyard operators in the UK have the power to take possession of your home without consent, evict you, impound it and deny access to all possessions...even your clothes, something even court appointed bailiffs cannot do. All this happened as the police stood by and watched, as it would appear they have no law to act upon and are powerless to prevent it....housing can affect a person's life, health and life chances, which is why the right to respect for a person's home is in the Human Rights Act ". 

Canal Angels Taylors Boatyard
Welds up to five rows wide riddled with defects
According to Peter James Askey of JP Marine UK Ltd "steel narrowboats are not fabricated to the standards of coded welders".  Well his certainly aren't. Full details soon.


Canal Angels Taylors Boatyard
Visible Holes in the botched welding which were painted over
Taylors Boatyard Chester
Yvette Askey JP Marine UK Ltd
Taylors Boatyard Chester
The Independent Survey Results by Incon of Ellesemere Port, Wirral

Taylors Boatyard Chester
Peter James Askey- Director JP Marine UK Ltd refutes the findings of tests carried out by Incon claiming "steel narrowboats are not fabricated to the standards of coded welders"
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY 


Taylors Boatyard Moorings and Dry Dock Debacle

Another distressed customer at Taylors Boatyard Moorings and dry dock Chester leased by JP Marine has contacted us. We'll bring you full details shortly. In the meantime, another unhappy customer has just advised that Peter and Yvette Askey have unlawfully denied access to their narrowboat home and placed it beyond their reach last Friday. The customer is taking the matter to the criminal courts and seeking an injunction to prevent these rogue traders operating outside of the law.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY 

Contact Canal Angels

Taylors Boatyard JP Marine Outrage

J P Marine: Unbelievable. Outrageous. Alleged Criminal Behaviour by Peter & Yvette Askey at Taylors Boatyard Chester

These are the only words we can articulate which demonstrate the actions taken by J P Marine today, according to news just in.  Between 4pm and 5pm whilst an unhappy customer visited the launderette, Peter & Yvette Askey flooded the dry dock and pushed their boat out onto the canal AFTER the customer had provided conclusive proof from independent surveyors, Incon,  that their welding was sub-standard and leaking. They have now denied the customer access to their home, leaving them without clothing, no access to medication, contact lenses, eye glasses and all other personal effects. Peter & Yvette Askey of JP Marine have rendered the customer homeless...on a Friday evening, with lawyers on the weekend break, and police who are powerless to intervene. We tried calling JP Marine to comment, but the phones were not being answered.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY


Canal Angels


Falling Apart At The Seams - Taylors Boatyard

Our unhappy customer has reported to Canal Angels there is no sign of JP Marine UK Ltd....and they are no longer accepting calls from other potential customers either on their advertised landline or mobile
canal,angles,taylors,boatyard,defective,welding,overplating

Holes clearly visible. The customer caught Peter Askey daubing red oxide paint on the welds to fill all the holes

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY 

Canal Angels


Taylors Boatyard Dry Dock

Update: 3:30pm and JP Marine have not yet opened the lock gates
Taylors Boatyard "Cowboy Boatbuilders"

Peter Askey "Marine Surveyor" though we have been unable to match his name with any professional marine association or institute inside the UK 

 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY 

Taylors Boatyard Threaten To Flood Couple

JP Marine Narrowboat Hull Overplating
Plates being tacked on before the MIG welder was deployed. Picture by Canal Angels

It's 4am on the morning JP Marine at  Taylors Boatyard have threatened to flood the dry dock and asked the customer to leave in a boat that's full of holes- holes that JP Marine have put in their boat. They have advised us they are in a hotel in Chester (The Coach House next to the town hall which is superb).

After Inspection Consultants Ltd (their independent surveyor) re-visited the site yesterday and confirmed "this was the worst welding they has ever seen",  the unhappy customer went to their lawyer and served written notice on the boatyard that should they flood the dock that it would constitute criminal damage. They also informed the police of the situation and lodged a complaint with Trading Standards.

According to Incon, it will cost between £6,000 and £7,000 to rectify the damage JP Marine at Taylors Boatyard had caused, which was roughly what our unhappy customer had already paid them. All the welding needs grinding out and starting again- this time with a competent welder. When unhappy customer asked Incon if they could commission them to oversee the project if JP Marine rectified the problem, they advised "there's simply no point" if they did the same thing again with their own welder. Let's hope they now see sense and bring in qualified people to complete the job.

The customer states that he probably looks stupid, as in hindsight he really should have had independent surveyors from the outset. But when our unhappy customer proposed bringing in Incon for the survey at the start of the project, Yvette Askey reportedly assured them confidently that her husband Peter Askey was a qualified marine surveyor. We have not been able to verify this claim.  "He has also been present each day throughout the re-plating process and personally overseen everything his welder John has done...even helped him cutting out the steel and lifting it into place.  So who's the stupid one, do you think?" said the couple.

Lights Out at Chester Dry Dock

Lights are now back on, and in the early hours this morning the unhappy customer finally received the hull survey they had paid JP Marine for 2 months ago. What is clear from the survey is Peter Askey placed an "urgent recommendation" to address the proximity of the well deck scuppers (deck drain) to the waterline. An "urgent recommendation" as defined by themselves must be done urgently, preferably before re-floating and certainly before any use is made of the vessel.

Why then would the same surveyor say he is refloating it before this is done, and why has he cut holes in the new steel in exactly the same location as the holes he states are below the minimum recommended level ??

The answer is obvious- he has a queue of narrowboats waiting to get in the dry dock to line his pocket and doesn't care that he may potentially flood and sink one customers'  home in the process. Time to get the experts in to stop him!

Our unhappy customer now reports that Peter Askey has also now just put in writing he thinks the weed hatch is too low- even more reason not to float the boat !

Defective welding to hull overplating
Dodgy: One of the 9 purposely cut holes on the baseplate
Next Photo: The poor customers home when JPM floated it prematurely. Water was coming onboard so they drained the dock and it took 30 minutes for the water to stop gushing through all the holes in the baseplate and sides, and a full 2 days to stop dripping !
floating a  narrowboat full of holes
Floated prematurely and taking in water
note the (new) proximity of the gas locker drain to the waterline. You can just make out the deck drain hole which is now virtually on the waterline if you look closely- and this was with an empty water tank! 

The next pic shows where it was before they started work:
Performing a hull survey without formal qualifications
Before Overplating



Taylors Boatyard : Lights Out

The Narrowboat after it was condemned by independent surveyors

Dry dock in daylight. Note the steep drops

After returning to the Chester moorings dry dock last night, our unhappy customer discovered all the lights had been cut in the dry dock making access to their home extremely dangerous. Nevertheless they negotiated the 15ft drops, numerous steps and wobbly ladder in the pitch blackness. They then dropped Peter Askey a very polite email once they had clambered on board requesting he took a look at the problem the next day. Better than waking him up in the small hours to check it out, right?

dry dock after JP Marine cut the power
The dry dock with lights out. You can just make out a rolled up package on the top of the boat on the
 bottom left 
>> FFWD to Sunday morning, 9:15 am. The unhappy customer was rudely awoken by thunderous banging on the hull. After donning a dressing gown, they peered gingerly through the cratch cover to see what all the commotion was. The customer was greeted by a growling, bouncing thug swearing at them..yes, you guessed it, Peter Askey was on the rampage,  "You have to send me an email to turn the f*****g lights on !!?? I want you out of this f*****g dock now !"

What an awakening. The customer had no choice but to dial 999 as the man was clearly imbalanced. Who knows what he may have done? The Cheshire police attended and advised him a more civilized approach would keep him out of jail.

So that was that, or so the customer thought. After the police had gone Peter Askey and wife Yvette were back to disconnect the power supply and deliver a letter, the contents of which I will divulge in the next installment...

Incon are due again within 24 hours to survey the hull damage. Our Unhappy customer had to check into a hotel in Chester due to lack of power, and the dock lights still out. The incident was reported to the Chester City Council Health and Safety Executive ref 101000415192

JP Marine cut all power at dry dock

Sheer drop with cables, ropes and wooden planks adding to the lethal obstacle course


Taylors Boatyard Fails Test

<<< REWIND to Friday 20th April:

Inspection Consultants Ltd (Incon) a highly reputable testing facility were drafted in to perform testing on welding carried out by JP Marine over the last 7 week period on our unhappy customers' boat. The result?: quote: 'SIGNIFICANT DEFECTS - REJECT"

Defective Hull Overplating Report
The unhappy customer informed Peter Askey at Taylors Boatyard Moorings and dry dock immediately and requested a meeting to discuss how he intended to rectify the numerous problems. The response: None I'm afraid. Very poor. Very poor indeed. Something was amiss...and our unhappy customer was about to discover what the next evening.... Contact Canal Angels

Canal Narrowboat Overplating by JP Marine at Taylors Boatyard Chester

Defective Narrowboat Hull Overplating Works
After the vessel was lowered onto the new 6mm baseplate

Canal Angels are dedicated to reporting Rogue Boat Builders and exposing dodgy repair yards across the country. If you have a marine or boat of horrors story, get in touch with us and have your say. Your story may help others, and potentially save lives.

If ever you were thinking of renovating a canal narrowboat, overplating or welding a narrowboat hull, fitting anodes, blacking a boat (either bitumen or comastic), having a hull survey, having it tested (there are many tests available including dye penetrant testing, Magnetic Particle MPI testing, ultrasound testing)... then you really cannot afford to miss this blog.

Not only will you discover WHAT YOU MUST KNOW about overplating before entrusting your precious boat or live-aboard home to any marine contractor, you will also learn the pros and cons of pump out toilets (including what's involved in removing one),  integral water tanks versus newer replacement water tanks now available for boats, installing a log burner or multifuel stove on your boat and much much more. By the way, If you're contemplating commissioning your own boat build, you simply CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY


JP Marine Director Peter Askey & the "welder" painting uncleaned new steel

It is now April 19th 2012, and my first unhappy customer has been in the dry dock at Taylors Boatyard Moorings and dry dock in Chester for approaching 2 months waiting completion of the hull, which is being overplated with 6mm on the bottom and 4mm on the sides. JP Marine (Pete Askey) has been contracted to perform this work and provide a BSS Certificate.

I will be writing the blog retrospectively, so that by the time our unhappy customer is out of the dry-dock at Taylors Boatyard you'll have the full picture. If anyone wants to come for a chat if you're local, feel free to call around. The 48ft boat is currently painted in red-oxide, and you can't miss it ! (Now located at Swanley Marina hardstanding) Contact Canal Angels

John The "welder"


Canal Angels