A boating company has banned alcohol after drunken holidaymakers urinated from one of its vessels.
Hippersons Boatyard in Beccles, Suffolk, took the measure after saying some guests had sparked a flurry of complaints while out on the water.
Company Director Mary Sparrow said the guests had been seen urinating off the boats in full view. of others enjoying the water.
The Broads Authority, which has 'police' in patrol boats, has urged people to take care when on the waterways in Norfolk and Suffolk.
Ms Sparrow said "There is a minority of people who will come out just because they want to drink on the water all day.
"They take crates of beer with them, they go to the pub, they moor up, they drink all day and they come back drinking more and they are really over-refreshed."
She said the company regularly received complaints from other families, or phone calls from people 'who had seen them along the river with our boat name on it and they've been very unhappy about their behaviour'.
Ms Sparrow added: "We decided we had to change things because that's not what we wanted for people.
"We want people to have a good time on The Broads, to come back to the Broads and also be safe.
"We can't afford for someone to damage one of our boats, we can't afford the reputational damage and we certainly don't want our staff to be treated in a bad manner.
"It was proving quite difficult for our staff with people loading up crates of beers and bottles of wines and spirits for a day trip.
"It was only a minority of people but we decided to put a stop to it as they were putting their own lives at risk and also other water users in danger.
"If you hire a car, you’re not going to buy a six pack of beer and sit there drinking it while you’re driving along.
"You wouldn't drink this much and get behind the wheel of a car so why would you do it on a boat?
"The majority of our customers welcomed the decision, allowing them to enjoy the river at its best without coming across anti-social behaviour.
"The ban doesn't stop people from enjoying a drink in moderation at one of the lovely local pubs we have along the river but it has stopped a minority not thinking it through and causing problems
"Our guests would be sitting in the pub or the beer garden and drinking, and then getting back on the boat and drinking more and it just became too much.
"If you’re over-refreshed and driving a boat out on the river it can be quite problematic."
She expects, with the summer season looming, that the issue will be raised at the next meeting of Visit the Broads.
"Some guests were coming back drunk and being abusive to staff and that’s really not fair on our staff - if they behaved that way in a pub they’d get banned."
Her firm has a full bookings list so she is confident the ban won't affect her takings.
A boating byelaw states people should not navigate a vessel while under the influence of drink or drugs to such an extent as to be incapable of taking proper control of the vessel.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) proposed last year to grant rangers additional powers, including issuing fixed penalty notices if byelaws were broken.
It said following the consultation, it was considering how the proposals fit with wider Defra policy.
