£100 for LARS?
I caught the tail end of an article on Radio 4 this evening discussing the possible charging of boat owners for the costs of maintaining lighted buoys. Apparently, they cost £75m a year to maintain and currently, commercial shipping pays for this. It seems they have now successfully lobbied government to spread the cost of this with leisure & pleasure boats. The suggested charge is £100 a year.
The arguments for and against seems remarkably similar to those for GA paying extra for LARS. Unfair for commercials to pay all the cost, unfair on pleasure craft who only use a fraction of the service, pleasure craft pay enough through taxation, etc.
So it got me thinking that if they're looking at charging boat owners for buoys, will they turn their attention to GA for LARS next? Is mode S a precursor to this?