River Canal Rescue began its journey in June 2000, when now-retired chief executive officer, Trevor Forman (partner of managing director, Stephanie Horton), had a recurring dream about providing a breakdown service for boaters. He even dreamt the name of the business and logo!
Trevor was a diagnostic mechanic and Stephanie, an electro-mechanical power engineer. They owned and had a love of boats, so possessed the necessary expertise and passion for such a venture. Having found nothing similar existed in the UK on a national scale, the business started with three staff; Trevor, Stephanie and director/chief rescue co-ordinator, Pete Barnett, testing reactions to its service proposition.

Following a formal launch in 2001, by the end of that year, RCR gained 100 members. Now, 25 years on from that initial dream, the company has grown from three staff to 37, and supports 20,000+ members, plus anyone else requiring assistance.

In 2024, RCR engineers responded to 171 major incidents; emergency situations involving submerged, partially sunken or grounded craft, plus salvage work, and 3485 general call-outs, for electrical, fuel and engine issues, flat batteries, over-heating and gear box failures etc. Over the past 25 years, Stephanie estimates its teams have responded to over 60,000 call-outs.

Other services

In addition to breakdown and recovery services, RCR offers maintenance and electrics courses, servicing, a WaterNav app offering offline mapping and route planning for the entire network, and Bilgeaway – the world’s first environmentally-friendly filter that stops fuel and oil pollution from bilge discharges.

Its subsidiary, Key Diesels, supply new and refurbished engines, nationwide and RCR is a distributor for electric motor company, Lynch Motors.

RCR’s Canal Contracting team – soon to be rebranded RCR Plus - helps boaters manage insurance claims and recover costs following an emergency and staff also have access to a nationwide network of over 600 specialist marine engineering service providers, electricians, plumbers, welders etc, with negotiated labour rates and parts’ costs.

No other organisation, whether marina, contractor or engineer has such an extensive in-house team or stocks such a wide range of parts to ensure solutions are sourced and implemented as soon as possible. Similarly, no other organisation works in partnership with a UK-wide network of service suppliers and contractors, addressing boaters’ issues, regardless of their location or issue.

RCR is authorised to handle claims for most boat insurers and is a pre-authorised by the Canal & River Trust (CRT), meaning teams have permission to attend on-site without having to complete in-house paperwork or secure approvals before undertaking a rescue or refloat, saving valuable time.

Awards

RCR’s apprenticeship programme is one of the best in the UK and the company is recognised as a Top 100 apprenticeship employer. RCR has also received awards for customer services, business growth and innovation and Bilgeaway has won the British Safety Industry Federation’s Water Pollution Prevention Award.

Not bad for a company that was at first a dream!