Rachel Moore

When drink’s in, wit’s out. 

We all know the hazards of drink driving and using heavy machinery under the influence.

But when it comes to beer and boats, risks and responsibility are lost in the slipstream.

There are few worse mixes than alcohol and water – and just like behind the wheel of a car, wit, alertness and quick reactions are all needed in spades when out on a Broads boat.

So, the move ban booze on its day boats by Hippersons Boatyard this week must be followed by other boat hire businesses before another season of motorboat madness starts on our beautiful waterways. 

What took the industry so long to take a stand against the numbskulls who view a trip on a Broads boat as reason to get tanked up and be raucous and rowdy with no thought for their safety, or that of others, or their enjoyment?

Hippersons said its new booze rules were a direct result of behaviour by drunken customers. 

Safety must also be a paramount concern to hire companies.  Like cars, boats are lethal weapons in the hands of the intoxicated. Every over-the-limit sailor is endangering the lives of their passengers and everyone one else who happens to be in their path.

Living by the Broads for years, and also sailing, I’ve lost count of the number of near misses, dangerous behaviour and recklessness I’ve encountered in the name of “we’re just having a laugh.”

It was bad enough watching numpties surrounded by crates of lager on day boats from the safety of the riverside. 

But since starting to sail, the daily scenes are shocking.

It’s as if people lose all sense when they step on a boat. Show-offs wearing captain’s caps – always a clear sign of no clue about river etiquette – puff out their chests at the wheel like Super Sailor, can or glass in hand, and become macho maniacs.

Their crew are clearly drunk with few wearing life jackets.

Our waterways are like busy roads in summer. But people step on to boats with no idea of how the boat works or the rules of the water, nor respect for the dangers or other users.

In river traffic, sailing boats have right of way, but I’ve lost count of the near with drivers think it’s fair game to try to take us out.

And any attempt to let them know they’re in the wrong, river rage erupts with more offensive gestures and expletives than the Barclay End crowd emits when Carrow Road’s visitors win a free kick.

In Norfolk and Suffolk’s most tranquil sites, the anti-social behaviour must stop.

If you hire a car, you’re not going to buy a six-pack of beer and drink it while you’re driving along. Why should it be any different on our Broads?

It’s time other hire companies take a stand like Hippersons and tightened their rules before people take their river holidays elsewhere.

Stop ruining other people's fun

Scenes at Manchester’s Palace Theatre when audience members assaulted and abused front of house staff and resisted police attempts to eject them from a performance of The Bodyguard were staggering.

Apparently, it wasn’t a one off. It’s a ‘thing’ for audience members to sing along – or out-sing the star- in performances by professionals, apparently.

As if wrecking others’ enjoyment by caterwauling over talented stars, they object so furiously to being hushed, they physically and verbally assault people being paid to show people to their seats.

From Twitter when last week’s news broke, it was apparent this is a regular occurrence. A teacher wrote about how they had taken 60 teenagers to the show and witnessed similar assaults.

When did it happen that individuals start to believe it is their right to do what they want wherever they want with no consideration or concern for others?

School starts again next week, and already there are police pleas on Nextdoor groups and local papers about parents’ inconsiderate and dangerous parking by schools, ignoring zig zag, yellow lines or any parking restrictions or safety concerns to get as close to the school gates as possible.

How do people believe they are the only one who counts?

Simon a star of the courts


Nostalgia for my early days as a trainee reporter in far flung courts across Norfolk came this week with the retirement of celebrities’ solicitor Simon Nicholls. 

He was one of the first court room advocates I encountered at the likes of North Walsham magistrates court back in the day representing clients as a young lawyer.

His presence perked up many a dreary court list.  His performance, statements and wins would regularly be the chat topic back in the newsroom.

He was a bit of celebrity himself as a young gun solicitor.

To read him say in his interview with the EDP that the bright lights of London could never lure him away from his beloved Norfolk, was music to the ears of us who have stayed put and said the same. 

On behalf of all court reporters whose shaky shorthand recorded some classic Nicholls quotes and wins, dined out on the anecdotes and appreciated the great news desk fodder he delivered on many a dull news day, I wish him a very happy retirement. 

Thank you for the headlines.