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Found a boat in trouble, a stolen boat or lost kit? What to do

Checked against its sources on 20 Oct 2026.

You are on the towpath and something is wrong. Here is who to call, in order.

Someone is in danger

Call 999. Do this before anything else.

A break-in is happening, or a boat is being moved or stolen now

Call 999. A crime that is happening as you call is an emergency. Do not approach the boat or the people on it.

A boat is sinking, drifting or blocking the water

  • On Canal & River Trust water, call the Trust’s 24-hour line on 0800 47 999 47. The line is for problems that are urgent but not an emergency. In an emergency, call 999.
  • On other waters, contact the navigation authority. GOV.UK lists who looks after which waterway.

Say where you are as exactly as you can: the nearest lock, bridge number, landmark or postcode.

A boat has been damaged or broken into, and nobody is there now

Report it to the police on 101 or online. The Canal & River Trust asks people not to use its phone lines to report damage or vandalism.

You think you have seen a stolen boat

  • If it is being moved now, or people are aboard, call 999. Do not approach.
  • If nothing is happening now, call 101 or report it online. Give the boat’s name, the place, the date and the time.

You can check the boat’s name against the stolen list. A boat that is not on the list may still have been stolen, so if something looks wrong, tell the police anyway.

You want to let someone know about a boat

Search The Boat Index by boat name and open the boat’s record. You can report what you saw from the record page: for example, it is adrift, damaged or somewhere odd.

Reports go to The Boat Index team. They are not published, and the owner is not alerted automatically. Most records have not been claimed by an owner. So do not rely on a report for anything urgent. Use the numbers above first.

You found lost kit

Police forces handle found property in different ways. West Yorkshire Police, for example, asks you to:

  • make reasonable enquiries to find the owner of low-value items, such as asking people nearby or leaving a note with your details
  • hand higher-value items in to a police station, an officer or a police community support officer

Check your local force’s website for its rules.

If the kit looks like it has been stolen, for example an outboard dumped by the towpath, report it to the police on 101 or online.

Sources