"Minister: we - and our QC - don't think BW is operating according to UK competition law, especially in the moorings and marinas market. We've told you this. We've given you evidence. Has BW satisfied you that it is acting in accordance with competition law?"

The minister replied in politspeak: "I understand the position of marina operators, and it's a question of getting the balance right, with structures in place to ensure a level playing field."

"But who decides what balance is right?" Pridding commented to BB.

The minister's reply did nothing to dispel the general feeling of dissatisfaction among inland waterways companies, a feeling that remained even after the BW board had done its best to answer the grilling it got from the floor.

The major subject was BW's lack of transparency in its handling of marinas and moorings. At one stage, CEO Robin Evans pleaded with the meeting to trust him. "Trust has never, ever been an issue in any of the businesses that I have been involved with, " he insisted.

However, Ann Davies, chairman of APCO, commented wryly to BB: "Robin Evans is asking us to trust him but, to be honest, we have concerns."

Emphatically denying that BW's practices had resulted in harm to any marina business, Evans went on to repeat the challenge he issued in an interview published in BB July 2003: "Show me the evidence, " he said, "and we will look at it openly and honestly."

Earle Wightman of Sherborne Wharf told BB: "If he's saying that, I'm disappointed in the reply I got when I presented him with evidence in July last year."

Sam Bourne, chairman of THYA, agreed with the general tone of the meeting that no questions were answered adequately. "We made the problem of the relationship with BWML quite clear, " he told BB. "But we are concerned as to whether that message has been understood by board members and we're concerned as to whether the chairman has accepted the strength of the problem."

As John Clarke, chief executive of the BMF, told BB:

"Why are there these problems four years after BW entered the marinas market, when there should have been transparent systems and procedures in place from the outset."

Braunston Marina's Tim Coghlan, as usual, summed the meeting succinctly: "No-one came to praise Caesar."