Punt Wars
In the old days punting was the pasttime of Cambridge students and locals. Whether it was to elope with a lover on the river, take out the family with a picnic or to bore visiting relatives with dubious stories, punting was very much a local Cambridge activity. Cambridge has always attracted large numbers of tourists due to the academic heritage of the town adn some students got the idea to offer their services as punters. Others jumped on the bandwagon and the guided punt business was born. Companies like Scudamores had always offered boats for self hire but now they donned local students and itinerant workers in waistcoats, straw hats and white shirts to conduct tours of the colleges by punt. Other companies soon sprung up and as demand grew punters ended up punting up to 5 boats tied together along the river at a time.
It occurred to some bright spark to just build bigger boats and now the ferry punts are a standard sight along the river as the punt companies pack their customers in like sardines. Punting in Cambridge has evolved into a multi-million pound business and no tourist will walk through the streets for more than half a day without being assailed by a dozen touts. In fact the touts for punt tours became so aggressive, both between each other and to the tourists, chasing them relentlessly down the street that Cambridge began to feel a little like Cairo or Bombay. The Punt Wars, as they came to be known, especially irked the locals who wouldbe aked 25 times on their way to Sainsburys if they wanted to go punting that afternoon.
These days it looks like a new bylaw will come into effect banning touts in the main streets. Business will thus be restricted to the companies of Cambridge Chauffeur Punts, Tyrells on Quayside and the Granta, a small company, who, according to ex-workers, doesn't even pay minimum wage to its punters. It's in response to the commercialisation of punting that Cambridge Punters have formed to keep alive the spirit of punting on the river, a vital piece of Cambridge heritage and culture.