A boater is worried that he will be priced out of living on London’s canals after a waterways charity introduced new mooring charges.

Nick Corrigan has been living on a boat for the past eight years, and regularly moors on the Regent’s Canal.

As an itinerant boater, he rarely stays in one place for more than a couple of weeks so relies on free moorings along London’s canals and rivers.

But Nick has said his lifestyle is under threat after the Canal and River Trust, the charity that manages some of the capital’s waterways, rolled out charges for some moorings.

These first appeared in Little Venice a couple of years ago, but have since been introduced around King’s Cross, as well as in other parts of Camden and Islington.

Costing between £25 and £35 a night, a boater who used these moorings for a year could be set back more than £10,000.

Nick said this is making central London’s waterways unaffordable for the average boater – pushing them off canals they have had free access to for hundreds of years.

He fears that if more charges are introduced, it will be hard for him to stay close to his partner in Hackney, and his offices in Islington.

The boater also moored near Homerton Hospital when he received treatment for cancer earlier this year, but said this would not have been possible if he had been charged.

He added: “These moorings started by being bookable, which was really good when they were free.

“But in the last 12 months, they’ve made them chargeable. What used to be really busy, safe, lovely areas are now deserted.”

Nick claims some stretches of the canal are now deserted Nick claims some stretches of the canal are now deserted (Image: National Bargee Travellers Association)

The National Bargee Travellers Association has said Freedom of Information disclosures by the Canal and River Trust show that existing chargeable moorings were booked only 16.5% of the time in the first six months of this year.

Nick added that the daily charges for some moorings followed a succession of other changes by the charity – including increasing boat licence fees – that seemed to penalise itinerant boaters.

“The Canal and River Trust has been spending the last few years cooking up different ways to try to get rid of liveaboard boaters in central London,” he claimed.

“But by closing all these free moorings it will make the River Lea even more congested, which they told us two years ago was unsustainably busy.”

The Canal and River Trust has now said it has no plans to introduce charges for moorings in Hackney, and that it has recently removed fees from some moorings in Camden.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “Over the past decade the number of boats on the capital’s waterways has more than doubled. 

“The vast majority of mooring in London is still free, but the addition of a small number of pre-bookable moorings ensures visiting boaters who are worried they will have nowhere to stop are not excluded from being able to visit our very busy London waterways.

“We’re doing all we can to increase the number of moorings where demand exists, and have added over one kilometre of free towpath moorings in central London over the past few years.”