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First volockie irritation of the year.


nicknorman

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... and it’s only March 6th!

 

Arrived at Atherstone top lock. Volockie on duty, opened top gate for us. So far so good! His colleague went away down the flight to fill the locks for us. Great!

 

I drove boat in, volockie closed gate whilst I opened offside paddle. Still good! By the time I walked across the bottom gates he was sitting on the balance beam leaning over the other bottom paddle. I thanked him for his help and then went to open the second paddle. But he was in the way, so I said “I’ll just open this paddle”. But he didn’t budge, and proceeded to explain to me that because these locks drained twice as fast as they filled, I should only use one paddle.

 

Well he sort of has a point in that it is true, they are fast drainers and slow fillers and thus in order to avoid putting water down the bywash of the next lock, I suppose there might be a case for it. But the other chap, having gone ahead, had the lock below mostly full and anyway, with the rain last night, water was pouring over all the bywashes in the flight. So he just obstructed my normal use of the lock for no reason and short of physically pushing him aside, I had to comply with his wishes. I decided to “let it go” and complied with his suggestion that I carry on to the next lock. I had the gate open and had to wait a minute or two before the lock gates were finally opened “still just one paddle up” and our boat was able to approach the lock.

 

Obviously this is not a big deal in itself, we wasted perhaps one minute. But it did annoy me. It seemed to be a power and control thing. He wanted to exert his authority and power (not that he actually has any) and short of a major argument and fight, I had to comply.

 

By contrast the other chap continued to fill locks ahead of us down most of the flight, which was great. And he was picking up rubbish. This is what volockies should be doing, not telling boaters with over 50 years experience how to operate a lock. I think I shall make a complaint. I didn’t just pay £900 quid for my licence to have some volunteer tell me which paddles I may and may not use.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Ying and Yang, get over it. Is it worth complaining about?

  I doubt it, just get over it and move on.

Yes it IS worth complaining as it goes against their training or shows they haven't been trained.

The lock operation is down to the boat owners responsibility - who may or may not wish to accept help and advice.

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3 minutes ago, mark99 said:

Bet he had a limp too. Most of the mini hilters seem to limp for some reason.

Because of groin injuries caused by previous disgruntled boaters, perhaps?

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6 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Yes it IS worth complaining as it goes against their training or shows they haven't been trained.

The lock operation is down to the boat owners responsibility - who may or may not wish to accept help and advice.

Is it really

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4 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Is it really

I believe that's correct, yes - can anyone confirm or deny?

From memory, a similar question was discussed in these pages last year.

Edited by Athy
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24 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Ying and Yang, get over it. Is it worth complaining about?

 If you complain are you going to sing the praises of the other Volocki? I doubt it, just get over it and move on.

Yes, it is worth complaining about and yes of course, in any complaint I would point out the good and bad. Apart from the natural justice of it, including the good with the bad tends to lead to the recipient not considering you to be a ranting old grump bag, but rather someone putting forward a balanced viewpoint. And thus they are more likely to take it on board.

 

Of course in itself it wasn’t a big deal (as I said) but it is important for Volockies to understand what authority they have, vs what the boat operator has. When that understanding breaks down, much worse situations can arise.

 

Are you by any chance a Volocky yourself?

13 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Is it really

Yes (if that was a question).

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Lock operation and water conservation looks simple but there are some subtleties and quite a few people don't fully grasp it. Some VLK's do what they have been taught within thinking it through.

A couple of years ago we stopped for lunch in a lock on the Hatton flight, we do this sometimes (tut tut tut). A VLK watched from a distance and when we had finished came over and told us off as we had wasted water due to leakage through the bottom gates, in fact he estimated we had used half of Rotten Park reservoir. The whole time we were stopped that was a huge amount of water pouring over the bywash. I was going to initiate a discussion about this but decided no to ?.

 

..............Dave

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A lot of people on here complain about the Volockies but at least they are volunteering and trying to help the boaters using the canal. If members are so worked up by certain situations involving the Volockies I suggest they give it a go and see what they have to put up with with certain boaters, instead of sitting indoors on their computers putting the canal system to right.

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I thought it had been decided near the end of last year that the volunteers are there 'to help if wanted, but the ultimate responsibility is the boat owners' which I read as being the boat owners choice as to what goes on. (Foxton and Watford in particular excepted).

 

eta - come on Mr.Fincher, I seem to remember you got a letter from C&RT after you complained, and it said the boater is in charge, or do I remember it wrong?

Edited by Mike Tee
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4 minutes ago, The Bearwood Boster said:

My husband is a volunteer but he wouldn't dream of telling others how to do a lock-unless they asked for/clearly needed help.Volunteers are there to help,not take over.Your boat(yes we are also boaters)is your responsibility & volunteers should listen to you.

Exactly. I have no problem with, in fact am grateful for, Volocky assistance. But not when they take control and stop you operating the lock in the usual way.

12 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

A lot of people on here complain about the Volockies but at least they are volunteering and trying to help the boaters using the canal. If members are so worked up by certain situations involving the Volockies I suggest they give it a go and see what they have to put up with with certain boaters, instead of sitting indoors on their computers putting the canal system to right.

So quite clearly you are a Volocky. And seemingly with a bit of a chip, unable to see that not everyone wants help let alone to be controlled. If you regularly encounter boaters who give you grief, perhaps that is a clue that your approach is wrong?

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23 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Exactly. I have no problem with, in fact am grateful for, Volocky assistance. But not when they take control and stop you operating the lock in the usual way.

So quite clearly you are a Volocky. And seemingly with a bit of a chip, unable to see that not everyone wants help let alone to be controlled. If you regularly encounter boaters who give you grief, perhaps that is a clue that your approach is wrong?

  NO, just a boater who gets on with it and see's all aspects of the canal, boaters, lock keepers, Vlockies and can see that they are not all the same. I just don't run and tell the world about it on here, Why didn't you challenge him about his remarks at the lock instead of going public on here?

  I think your complaint is trivial and quite pathetic and laughable actually.

Edited by PD1964
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35 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

A lot of people on here complain about the Volockies but at least they are volunteering and trying to help the boaters using the canal.

No they aren't.

 

Some may be doing it for that reason.

 

Some may actually BE helpful.

 

Unfortunately, some have the desire to help, but lack the skills to do so. It is not incumbent upon any of us to be grateful for the imposition of unhelpful help.

 

Still others just want to play with the locks. I can see the attraction (I want to do that too). Should I be grateful that somebody wants to volunteer to do something that I actually want to do myself.

 

And finally we have the failed traffic wardens, who just want to boss other people around.

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1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

... and it’s only March 6th!

 

Arrived at Atherstone top lock. Volockie on duty, opened top gate for us. So far so good! His colleague went away down the flight to fill the locks for us. Great!

 

I drove boat in, volockie closed gate whilst I opened offside paddle. Still good! By the time I walked across the bottom gates he was sitting on the balance beam leaning over the other bottom paddle. I thanked him for his help and then went to open the second paddle. But he was in the way, so I said “I’ll just open this paddle”. But he didn’t budge, and proceeded to explain to me that because these locks drained twice as fast as they filled, I should only use one paddle.

 

Well he sort of has a point in that it is true, they are fast drainers and slow fillers and thus in order to avoid putting water down the bywash of the next lock, I suppose there might be a case for it. But the other chap, having gone ahead, had the lock below mostly full and anyway, with the rain last night, water was pouring over all the bywashes in the flight. So he just obstructed my normal use of the lock for no reason and short of physically pushing him aside, I had to comply with his wishes. I decided to “let it go” and complied with his suggestion that I carry on to the next lock. I had the gate open and had to wait a minute or two before the lock gates were finally opened “still just one paddle up” and our boat was able to approach the lock.

 

Obviously this is not a big deal in itself, we wasted perhaps one minute. But it did annoy me. It seemed to be a power and control thing. He wanted to exert his authority and power (not that he actually has any) and short of a major argument and fight, I had to comply.

 

By contrast the other chap continued to fill locks ahead of us down most of the flight, which was great. And he was picking up rubbish. This is what volockies should be doing, not telling boaters with over 50 years experience how to operate a lock. I think I shall make a complaint. I didn’t just pay £900 quid for my licence to have some volunteer tell me which paddles I may and may not use.

 

 

£900 you should consider yourself lucky. If you bought the rest of the boat it would have been considerably more!!

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14 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

   Why didn't you challenge him about his remarks at the lock instead of going public on here?

 

I think there is a valid point here. Complaining on here is neither here nor there, but I don't think you have a right to complain to CRT if you didn't actually say anything to the chap at the time. If you had, he may have just shrugged and agreed with you.

Edited by billS
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6 minutes ago, billS said:

I think there is a valid point here. Complaining on here is neither here nor there, but I don't think you have a right to complain to CRT if you didn't actually say anything to the chap at the time. If you had, he may have just shrugged and agreed with you.

  Probably just cruised off chuntering and getting himself more worked up over something trivial, as he was told off and was not in control.  Then goes on here and cry's on about it instead of confronting the Volockie and resolving the issue, after all he pays £900 a year and has over 50 years boating experience, so who is the Volockie to tell him what to do. Laughable really.

Edited by PD1964
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4 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

Probably just cruised off chuntering and getting himself more worked up over something trivial as he was told off and was not into control, then goes on here and cry's on about it instead of confronting the Volockie and resolving the issue.

I only agreed with your argument, not your offensive remarks.

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For what it's worth I think Nick is correct here.

He is also free to come on here and moan prior to complaining. Unless there's forum rules prohibiting it? There are defo rules against offensive remarks though.

 

I don't think anyone should put the responsibility onto him to confront / discuss vollockie behaviour / actions. It's up to CRT to do that following a formal complaint.

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