The Ivy May

Gather around an I’ll tell ye of Ivy May

A narrow boat booked for our spring holiday

Never before have we seen such a sight

A 70ft lump of floating shite

Toilet is a disgrace it stank, didn’t flush or seal

It sounded a bargain but this was a raw deal

The water supply was beyond belief

We’d been sold a wreak by a penny grabbing thief

The tiller was loose and the engine would not stop

Our spring break was declared a smelly old flop

We stopped for the night but was too scared to sleep..

The carbon-monoxide warning started to bleep

So beware when booking your canal holiday

Stay well clear of Budget Boat’s ‘Poison Ivy May’.

Meet The Ivy May

This is the only boat that you can hire from BUDGET BOAT a Stoke On Trent based company owned and run by Robert and Yvonne Follett, helped by there son Nathan C Follett.

97 Elwood Drive

Blythe Bridge

Stoke On Trent

ST11 9NY

Home Phone Number

01782 398559

Mobile

07981113765

We had the misfortune of hiring this boat from BUDGET BOAT through an advert on Ebay.. we have been on many such boats in the past, all bought the same way on Ebay. NOTHING could have prepared us for The Ivy May... nothing.

To cut a long story short we booked a weeks holiday from the 10th March 2012... two days before it should have started we got a phone call from the owners saying the engine had blown up as the people on the boat that week had failed to top the oil up.. we were offered a week at the same rate £350 later in the year. We were gutted but agreed to this. The week we picked was from the 28th April, we noticed  the following week was advertised on Ebay... we contacted him and offered him cash for that week, another £350. We were now looking forward to a fortnight cruising the canals. 

   

The day before we was due to set off on our jollies the phone rang and we were told there was a change of plan, the boat would not be at Kings Bromley Marina.... but we could pick it up from Nantwich, it would be moored outside the canal side pub The Jolly Tar. The plan was we could load the boat up and our car could be taken to Kings Bromley Marina.... where it could be left and picked up at the end of the holiday. The owners very kindly offered my brother a lift back to the Jolly Tar. THAT WAS THE PLAN

But the phone rang again the same day, it had been attacked by vandals who broke in and removed pipework we were told. The holiday would need to be put back a day while the pipework was replaced. The boat would then be moored in Barlaston, Stoke On Trent. This time the canal side public house The Plume Of Feathers was to be the meeting place.. and again the car could be taken to the marina and my brother given a lift back. To say we were worried was an understatement, but we turned up at the time and place and sure enough Mr & Mr Follett and their son arrived. If you can recall Sunday the 29th April it was blowing a gale... driving rain and very windy. The so called hand over was very rushed.. it was a case of there's the two futons, there's the sink, there's the toilet and bathroom, here's the dining area, and here's the double bedroom. There's the TV and there's the radio.. "oh! I forgot to turn the gas fridge on...  there's the cooker, but the grill dose not work properly." We've not had time to do a pump out because the boat was vandalised... but it shoud be OK for another 2-3 days.. same with the water... again it should last a day or two. I'll show you where the gas bottles are kept..... oh! there's only this one of 4 bottles that seems to have gas in... should last you the night... we'll take the empties and bring you some gas in the morning.. WHEN WE BRING YOU SOME CANS OF DIESEL...

   

We should have run there and then... but we'd a holiday to get on with.... they'd said we could have the boat a day longer to make up for the delay... they even knocked off a few quid from the money we had to pay for the diesel and utilities because we had to get a pump out and water and wait for the gas and fuel.

My brother and myself were given tour of the outside... as mentioned the gas bottles were noticed to be empty at this stage. We were shown the engine room.. a nice shiny engine but the walls and floor were covered in oil, this was put down to the engine trouble a few months back. The above picture shows one of the two entrances to the engine room.. The opening on the other side was practically unusable.

Before we move on to the tiller and controls just check the above picture out....first note the mount of oil about, put with it a very strong smell of diesel, note also the pool of oil in the bilge all ready to be pumped out into the canal. When stepping into this 'room' everything you touch is covered in oil... and beware you don't burn your leg on the exhaust.. don't worry about standing ankle deep in the oil as the batteries stop that from happening as they are the only thing your feet can stand flat on. We will come back to this 'room' again. Now lets see the tiller.

The Tiller.. seen one you've seen them all you might think.

Control Panel

The Store Room

It was again a case of here's the controls.. you've used a boat before so there's no need for a tour of how things work... sorry about the store room it's been a rush getting the boat ready.. (READY!) It was explained the need to keep the heater plugs pushed in to start the engine in the morning or when it was cold, don't forget to top up the engine... oh by the way.. to stop the engine the key has to be in the off position. You have to pull the engine cut off swith in the engine room.... I'd better show you where that is... this was said as an after thought. 

There it is... turn the key to the off position then just pull that switch there...... Lets take your car to Kings Bromley now... I'll run you back and you can get yourselves sorted. That was it... that was the hand over... rushed, basic and done outside when it was blowing a gale... there were one of two things worrying us... had we heard this right... maybe it's not as mucky as it seems, it will be OK... we'll give it a good clean and wipe down.. WE WANTED our holiday.. My brother took his car to Kings Bromley and the rest of us sat there for a bit and then it started... "WHAT A SHIT TIP"... the more we looked the worse it got. It was a tad smelly.. the dust in parts was thick.. the door handles were all covered in oil.. all 4 of us left on board had oil on us from somewhere or another.. We sat and looked... put the kettle on it was suggested. It will not look so bad after a brew... as soon as the kettle went on the cardon-monoxide warning alarm went off.

We then had a good look around and it was far worse than you could imagine.. we found one bad thing after another and each was worse than the last..

From a distance it looks reasonable.. let me show you around and point one or two things out. While this picture is above have a look at how the boat is set out at the stern.. There is the tiller, an area to stand and control the boat and a step or two down into the very untidy story room. There is no way to reach the engine room other than the side entrances. The store room and the engine room have a dividing wall.. as dose the private double bedroom and the engine room. So again there is no way to enter the engine room other than those two side entrances. 

When you are at the control of the boat, and working the tiller there is no way to STOP the engine... you can be back there on your own cruising along and for whatever reason you need to stop the prop/engine.. in an emergency. The procedure would be to turn the engine off... the prop is then clamped and it stops. In case of collision one can turn the engine back on and put the boat in reverse... the momentum of the boat will still take you forward but the prop is now in reverse and helping to stop that momentum... 

On THE IVY MAY this is impossible to do... you cannot be expected to turn the key to the off position.. run down the gunwales to pull the engine shut off.. remembering to push it back in... run back to the controls along the gunwales and restart the engine, and select reverse... all the while the tiller is left to flop about like a spare willy at a wedding. It's just so dangerous.

Let me tell you about the tiller, it is like the rest of the boat 'badly maintained'. Look at the two pictures above.. those bits of metal acting as washers are a bodge-up, look how the tiller sits, it is just not right. To be fair it works... it moves left and it moves right. The trouble is it moves up and it moves down.. there is far to much play in it. I looked at this tiller, and the engine room and how to stop and wondered how any of that could be right... how did it pass a mechanical test of worthiness. A car would not pass a M.O.T. with those faults.

  

Before we back to the engine room just take a look at the store room again... the Follett's think this is an acceptable way to hand a boat over.. some of this junk as been here for ages.   

This is the dividing wall between the bedroom and the engine room. Diesel fumes penetrate through the bodge job of a seal.. note gaffa tape.    

How's this for the electrics... seems the Follett's are not in to colour coding.. on the opposite side to this is the inverter... above the bad. with the only 240 volt socket in the boat. Which needed the engine to be running to work.

The advert on Ebay states 'A domestic size hot water tank'  well it looks full size... it's less than a foot away from someone's head when they are in bed, behind a flimsy bit of boarding.

This is on the bedroom side of the dividing wall.. doesn't it look nice?

It is very handy to have warm pillows, and it is so easy on THE IVY MAY to achive this with having the main hot pipe running under them... how very thoughtful of the Follett's.

This is the bedroom window... all the window frames had seen better days.. but not seen a scrubbing brush or duster in years. Lets leave the bedroom and check out the toilet.... not for the faint hearted beware.

First thing you notice is the smell.. it really was in need of a pump out. The second thing was the state of it... no attempt what so ever to present a clean, hygienic look about it. 

Oil stained toilet seat

Now this is so nice to see, it's a stain, it's on the toilet seat, it's a finger print but is it oil? Can you imagine the mindset of someone who is renting out their boat and they think this is OK!  While we are here I'd just add that there was no toilet paper, the can of fresh air spray at the side of the bowl was empty and the toilet brush was  in a shocking state... I was going to take a picture... but didn't... it was that bad.

The flush pedal was broke.. I hate to admit this but I had to grab this to flush the toilet... can you imagine where my head had to be while this was done.

There is a hole there, and it is as smelly as it looks

This is the one and only toilet on boat, it did not seal so the water that falls in the bowl falls down the trap. The water helps to keep the tank air tight... but with the seal being no good the fumes from the tank grew worse. We ended up coving the toilet with a bin bag which did help a bit... but them a waft of fumes filled the boat and we had to stand outside with the doors open.

How nice of the Folletts to let the toilet get in such a condition. Basic hygiene laws must cover this sort of thing. BASIC.. ha! what a joke... a dirty rotten smelly joke this is.  Think on this was next to the 3 seater dining room on a 7 berth boat. I make no apologies for showing a many pictures of this as I have done... be very thankful that a P.C. can not yet convey smells. 

I have to show you just some of the utensils  and such like that were supplied for our use... 

The washing up bowl was covered in oil.

So was the plastic drainer.

Inside the kitchen cupboard.

I have to show all these, these have been like this for ages... Mr's Follett you should hang your head in shame... if you think it is right and proper to leave these in your hire boat from your customers to use you really are one slovenly bitch. Just what must your knife draw contain.

The grill didn't work... and by the look of things the cookers door seals are well on their way out.

Top of the Central Heating System

The switch is for the Carbon-Monoxide warning alarm.. which kept going off... it was one of the things we spoke to Mr Follett about later on the phone, he told it was probably the boats batteries at fault because the engine had not been run long enough.

The heating system did get hot... I was not impressed with how it looked or was fitted. I did not like it at face height to a child running the length of the boat. 

Like most things on the boat the electric looked like a DIY disaster waiting to happen.

This was one of the window blinds... to depressing to look at them pulled down so we didn't use them.

Fully blown up this shows infestation of Wood Lice.. this is the window above the kitchen sink. Another example of long term neglect, apart from the damp and rot it's not seen a cleaning product in a long time. 

The inside of the front doors

This rope is not fit for purpose 

Front seating

Instead of being kept clean and tidy the hose pipe to fill the boat up with clean water is stuffed under the front seats with bits of rope, string some old tins.. leaf mould and Wood Lice crawling about. Again this hose-pipe was certainly not hygienic or fit for purpose.

I've left the water supply to the last... this is the area of the boat that you can sit out on and watch the world go by. As you can see it is fitted with anti slip maps... it is what's under the mats I'd like to show you.

This is where you find the water filler cap... 

The filler cap is flush with the floor, please note the hole in the cap... the domestic water supply that you wash and cook with and of course brush your teeth and make your tea and coffee with as been  

The dead lock key fits the hole perfectly... 

Not what you would expect... and far worse than the toilet and I thought that was a health hazard.

This is the inside of the filler cap, I could make out the egg sack from some insect or other but could not make out the other stuff until I cropped the picture on the P.C. 

There's wood Lice crawling around the inside... and what look like some other form of beetle. You can see the the hole in the filler cap as been there quite some time.... the brass as took on a dark colour which it will in time. I shudder to think what the inside of the water tank must be like... a soup of filth for sure... how no one as been ill is beyond me... The deck and the underside of those mats are dirty, water will be seeping into the tank at the time, I felt ill after seeing this and did not trust the water to wash in or anything. 

It was obvious my family could not holiday on this boat... as soon as my brother got back we locked the boat up and went to the Plume Of Feathers... a very nice place by the way. We phone the Folletts and told them not to bring the gas or diesel in the morning as we would be leaving.. 

We stopped in the pub that evening... we knew we had to spend a night on board and pick the car up the next morning... it was a sleepless night... maybe an hour grabbed between cursing the Folletts and The Ivy May... at 6 the next morning we spent £40 on a taxi to take my brother to Kings Bromley Marina for his car... he arrived back just in time as the Folletts turned up at the same time. The returned the money they were given for the diesel .. they said the money for the holiday would be returned within two weeks, they were very un-confrontational. It was a strained meeting and we left.

So we complained to all who would listen, letters were wrote, people and organisations were contacted... You have seen the pictures... that's proof enough.... you would think that some agency would take the reins and sort this company out. We have been passed from piller to post.. Ebay can't help... nor Paypal.. I have now took to selling art work on Ebay inspired by The Ivy May.. I've not sold anything but it as bought the boat to the attention of others. Some have yet to take their holiday.... some have already found out what the boat is like... some walked off after a day or two and are like us owed money.

So this blog... what's it all about... thats simple it's a warning to others about Budget Boat, about The Ivy May and about the Follett family themselves. I would hate to think of anyone coming to some harm on that boat. I feel by doing this blog my family have done all we can to help others not to fall foul of this company.

Please feel free to leave your comments.... if you have had dealings let me know... and if you have pictures you'd like to share send them to me Tom by email to womtig@gmail.com