Cambridge Reels in Punt War

[Sheilbh]

Cambridge 'punt wars' erupt between rival operators

• Battle for business on river Cam escalates
• City shocked after two boats found sawn in half

Sam Matthews of The Punting Company was angry. "It's provocative," he said. "It's somebody hoping to start a war to get rid of us. It's the competition, but which competition? I have my suspicions, but the best thing is not to retaliate."

Matthews is the latest victim of what locals call the "punt wars", a series of disputes between rival operators in the £2.5m punt industry in Cambridge. The battles have reached new heights after two of Matthews's boats were found sawn through from top to bottom.

The nighttime attack is the most audacious in the spate of clashes that have disrupted the tranquillity of the Cam and prompted calls for a cap on the number of boats competing for custom from the four million people who visit the city each year. Observers say punting is now in danger of becoming a tawdry industry that will lower the city's reputation.

The panoply of weapons used in the punting wars is said to include stink bombs thrown from bridges to render a rival's boat inoperable, washing up liquid squirted to make it too slippery for the punter to stand, and bolt-cutters to snap mooring chains. But never, until now, an electric jig saw.

"If it's happened to me," said Matthews, "who's next?"

Matthews, whose independent company jostles for space on the Cam with century-old established punting companies, more recent co-operatives, and "mobilers", so named because they have no established moorings, estimates damage to his boats in excess of £10,000.

Rod Ingersent, general manager of Scudamore's, the oldest and largest of the punting companies, described the attack as "a new departure".

"We've had argy bargy, touts fighting over tourists, pushing and shoving, yes. But everyone is a bit shocked because it is not something we have known before."

The growing number of punt operators employ touts who hunt in packs to talk tourists onto a chauffeured tour in huge 12-seater punt ferries at £14-a-head.

In the last three years, police have investigated 31 altercations between touts. One was said to have involved a knife, and in another a woman broke her hip when she was caught up in a brawl between touts.

James Bayliss-Smith, a freelance cameraman and part-time Cam punter who is making a documentary on the "Punt Wars", believes there should be a cap on numbers. "Or better still, a ban on the over-sized 'ferry' punts. Unchecked, these behemoths have turned a serene and beautiful river into a log-jammed motorway," he said.

Cam Conservators, the body responsible for managing the river since 1710, grants licences to punt operators, but as long as the boats are properly constructed and a fee paid, they have no power to refuse a licence.

Two recent developments are said to have provoked the sawing of the two punts: the "battle of the Middle Steps" and Cambridge City Council's attempts to control the number of punt touts.

The Middle Steps leading down to the river are in between Scudamore's two pontoons at the Quayside punting station at Magdalene Bridge. Independent punt owners used to pick up and land tourists there, until it was declared unsafe by Cam Conservators. Blame was laid on the number of boats bumping into them and causing erosion.

"Rubbish" said one unnamed mobiler, who claims a member of Scudamore's staff was seen "pulling bricks out" to make the steps unsafe, so independents couldn't use them.

"Cobblers," Ingersent told the Guardian. "Somebody did fall in there. It was totally unsafe."

Banned from the steps, independents have this year found themselves also forbidden from landing on any council-owned land. Instead, the council set aside a special pontoon at Quayside, and granted a limited number of independents the right to trade from there.

The result, according to critics, has been chaos. Those unable to use Quayside or council greens have decamped to the only other spot they say they can legally land – a small concrete platform by a public bridge at Garret Hostel Lane.

The trouble is the Trinity Boys, an affiliation of punt owners named after the nearby college, have been trading there for 30 years. After a day's blockade, agreement was reached. The new boys – which includes Matthews – can pick up and land, but not tout from there. So, instead, they deploy their touts on nearby King's Parade and footfall along this central tourist haunt has yielded great riches.

Alastair Roberts, Cambridge City Council's safer communities officer, said the ban on punts using council land had been enforced because "the numbers were getting quite significant, with punts lined up all the way down the river bank". He added the new system had resulted in a drop in complaints from the public, he said.

It looks so tranquil.  Who knew what lay beneath it all

[Josquius]

Damn, I thought this would be about Somalia and some diplomat called Cambridge.

[DontSayBanana]

It looks so tranquil.  Who knew what lay beneath it all

It looks so crowded.

[Ed Anger]

Goofy ass brits and their funny words. ME PRAM HAS GONE ALL WOBBLY!

[Pishtaco]

washing up liquid squirted to make it too slippery for the punter to stand

Serve them right for standing on the wrong end of the boat.

[Razgovory]

So they are kicking football at one another or what?

[Admiral Yi]

I thought it would be about gambling.

Why are there so few British movies about University life?

[Warspite]

I thought this would be about Scottish dancing.

[Sheilbh]

Why are there so few British movies about University life?

The only one I can think of is 'Starter for Ten' or something like 'Chariots of Fire'.  There are lots of other movies that relate to Oxbridge in the main, like 'Iris'. 

I think that maybe it's something to do with there not being a British Uni experience.  We don't have fraternities and most Universities aren't on a campus.  So while Oxbridge is a weird, unique and much documented experience I think there are perhaps significant enough differences in Uni life in London compared with Edinburgh or a newer campus university like UEA.

And it's not that interesting really. 

[DisturbedPervert]

"Cobblers," Ingersent told the Guardian. "Somebody did fall in there. It was totally unsafe."

Cobblers?  Really?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yes, "cobblers"; as in "a load of cobblers" or even my favoured variant "a load of old cobblers" 

It's a nicer and more entertaining way of saying "bollocks".

[Richard Hakluyt]

Incidentally, whenever I've contemplated punting on the Cam I have recoiled in horror from the reality of the  crowds, touts and prices.

[Oexmelin]

Why are there so few British movies about University life?

The only one I can think of is 'Starter for Ten' or something like 'Chariots of Fire'.  There are lots of other movies that relate to Oxbridge in the main, like 'Iris'. 

I think that maybe it's something to do with there not being a British Uni experience.

That's probably because there is no «Uni experience» erected to the same symbolic significance outside of the US. It does not have the same level of life-changing expectations built in, I would think. I can't think of any other German, French, Canadian, Italian movie where university life is deemed interesting enough to warrant a movie. Living with roommates is probably the closest theme (L'Auberge espagnole / Euro pudding is perhaps one of the latest representative). Lots of Europeans never really leave the parental house during their studies and so it is rarely such a radical break as moving half a continent away. Many colleagues who have taught on both sides of the Atlantic have said to me that, on average, American students are much less mature than Europeans when they reach college but do an increadible ammount of catching up in very little time - hence the «experience».