Petition will remain closed UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE – despite high demand!

Folks,

Despite the high demand and need for signatures at the moment, as a manager of more than one petition on the change.org platform, I need to prioritise on different campaign and milestone deadlines and this is a low priority campaign at the moment although we will reopen before 2027 for signatures despite yesterday’s update which I have now edited.

This is a multi-year project for festive cruises/winter operations on the non-tidal sections of the river Thames between Hampton Court and Westminster by the 2030s and also to allow for demand for sailings between the ice rink at Hampton Court and Kew during Christmas at Kew.

We are well ahead of schedule, our deadline is only to hit 250 signatures by late October so we really are in no rush at all, 241 signatures is not a bad result and just because the six-month shutdown is still happening this year, it absolutely doesn’t mean our retitled campaign has failed.

The massive five-month gap between reaching our 100 signature and 200 signature milestones on February 20th and July 20th respectively was highly intentional and was due to me (the creator) having to juggle between campaigns, meaning that I have had to open and close this campaign several times in the months since March this year.

Just before my 7th birthday in January 2000 just after the famous millennium celebrations, I can remember going on a family visit to the Millennium Dome and we got the boat back to Westminster Pier, meaning that winter operations have taken place on the tidal Thames for decades. I also went to visit the Tower of London and the late Queen’s crown jewels were in use using Uber Boats (then branded MBNA Thames Clippers) in December 2019 just before Christmas.

The tidal Thames is a thoroughfare, meaning ships from all over the world come and dock year round. Our extended timeline until the 2030s also allow us to effectively campaign for the Environment Agency for better maintenance schedules throughout the year. I have not boycotted services on the tidal Thames having last travelled from Westminster to Greenwich alone at the end of April 2026.

While our signatures from overseas and other parts of the UK are highly valued, due to the hyper-local London cause, at least 50% if not more of all our signatures need to come exclusively from Londoners for our campaign to win.

The exact signature counts where I have had to close this petition throughout the spring and summer 2026 have been precisely at 153, 168, 178, 180, 187, 233 and now 241 signatures.

I have renamed my petition to reflect my new campaign goal, the new title is:

Demand Thames River Boats to run in November/December for Christmas cruises by the 2030s!

I will update you all when we (again) reopen for signatures.