Thames River Boats have confirmed that sailings will resume on Wednesday 15th April due to a delay in the end of maintenance at Teddington Lock.

The"winter closure" is not a winter closure, it is a six month complete shutdown of the non-tidal Thames is unnecessary - with better infrastructure at Hampton Court landing stage and in Kingston, Turk's Launches boats could operate solely between Kingston and Hampton Court even during periods of maintenance at Teddington Lock year-round and operating as an alternative transport link during bus strikes and rail engineering works.

Boats have been operating on the tidal Thames in Central London year-round for decades without issue, so with maintenance more evenly distributed throughout the year, the six month closure on the non-tidal Thames can easily be avoided.

Water levels can be exceptionally high even during the summer months when these boat services are operational and snow is statistically more likely to fall in March than in December, when the proposed "festive cruises" should take place.