WE ARE VERY CLOSE TO REACHING 400 SIGNATURES!!

Folks,

With the scandalous six-month seasonal shutdown now in full swing, with scheduled river services not due to restart until April 2027, we can use this time to gather as much support as possible.

We now have over 390 signatures, so we are literally only a few signatures away from reaching the coveted 400 signature milestone, becoming only my third ever campaign on the platform to successfully hit the 400-signature mark after one of my concurrent campaigns (which has since surpassed 600 signatures), reached that very milestone back in June.

While I am focused on that campaign simultaneously with this one, I have used the autumn and the scandalous six-month shutdown to pivot my focus back to this cause. Just literally yesterday I saw a police boat and people hiring 'go boats' along the river in Kingston, which proves it is perfectly possible for river services to successfully operate on the non-tidal Thames year-round (unless in the unlikely event we have a severe winter and the entire Thames freezes over, hypothetically).

The real issue is a combination of boat operators not having enough vessels (rolling stock) when one breaks down and needs servicing, inadequate infrastructure (such as the pier being too low) at Hampton Court Landing Stage and poorly timed maintenance schedules at Teddington Lock. One of the core demands of this entire campaign is for proper upgrades to Hampton Court Landing Stage to make winter mooring feasible, as well as better maintenance schedules and more rolling stock.

The United Kingdom always lags behind in its infrastructure compared to other countries such as Japan, and we should be upgrading the pier at the same time as railway engineers are constructing High Speed 2 (which is set to officially open in the 2030s).

Our campaign officially went live on 9th February, and we reached each milestone on the following dates throughout 2026:

• 100 signatures - 20th February
• 200 signatures - 20th July
• 300 signatures - 30th September
• 400 signatures - almost certainly within the next couple of days, possibly tomorrow

Despite the five-month gap between reaching our 100 and 200 signature milestones, the five-month gap since July has seen our signature count double and there are NO PLANS to lock the campaign page any time soon!

I will post my next update as soon as we officially cross the 400-signature milestone!