TODAY is D-Day for a Wiltshire canal boater who is facing eviction by the Canal & River Trust and a claim for £2,644.40 in court costs.

George Ward, 62, has until 4pm on Thursday (March 23) to remove his two workboats, The Celtic and the March Hare, from the Kennet & Avon Canal near Bradford on Avon.

The charity, which manages more than 2,000 miles of inland waterways, has obtained a court order to evict Mr Ward from the canal.

It also wants him to pay the court costs by Monday, March 27.

Last week, Mr Ward threatened to barricade himself on board one of the boats armed with a garden fork and then set fire to it if he was forced to leave.

Mr Ward said: “Things don't need to be the way they are. What could be different is the CRT taking full account of my welfare and need for a home.

“The CRT are really not interested. They can only deliver persistent disability discrimination re refusals to agree any Equality Act 2010 reasonable adjustments since 2015.”

Mr Ward claims he has been intimidated, harassed and bullied by the charity over the past decade, and that it has refused to grant him a licence and mooring for his two boats.

Now the CRT is pursuing Mr Ward for the £2,644.40 in costs awarded by the Bristol County Court on January 23. It has sent him a letter dated March 13 reminding him that the costs must be paid within 14 days.

A CRT spokesperson said: “Whilst the Trust obtained a costs order in the civil court against Mr Ward, no action has been taken to enforce this.

“The Trust takes its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 very seriously and denies any discrimination has occurred.

“Mr Ward was granted reasonable adjustments to his most recent boat licences that were issued in 2021. Unfortunately, Mr. Ward failed to comply with the adjusted licence terms. 

“All action taken by the Trust in relation to the licensing of Mr Ward’s boat has been scrutinised by a court and judged to be lawful, prior to the orders being made.”

The CRT terminated Mr Ward’s boat licences on December 18 2020 in response to an incident on November 27 2020 when it alleges he had been verbally abusive and threatened one of its employees.

The charity, formerly the British Waterway Board, said it was acting to protect its employees on health and safety grounds.

Mr Ward claims he has never been convicted of any Section 4 or S5 public order offences against CRT employees, as charges were dropped at a Salisbury magistrates hearing on January 19.

But the Trust did manage to secure a restraining order which prevents him from contacting or speaking to its staff.

He added: “Seeing as there was no convictions for S5 or S4 offences, it's looking like the Canal & River Trust without lawful grounds terminated my licences on 18 December 2020.” 

Mr Ward is registered disabled and has lived on the K&A Canal since 2016. The CRT has been trying to remove him from the inland waterways network since 2010.

“For several years the board has been giving me assurances every time I licence my boats that 2010 Equality Act reasonable adjustments will be sorted out," he said.

“Had these issues been resolved at anytime in the past or any reasonable adjustments been put in place in 2016 or 2018 or 2021, then I'm sure that they would not have been able to begin their attack on everything I own. It's clearly the failures of the board that have put me in this position.”