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Brentford tidal lock


Jporter

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48 hours’ notice is required in advance notice for passage through Thames Lock, Brentford on the Grand Union

Thames Lock office contact details

To request a booking please only call 0303 040 4040 or you can email enquiries.londonsoutheast@canalrivertrust.org.uk

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Basically you now need to book a slot online (using your CRT licencing account). The main contact is via the customer services number. There is a mobile, but it is not always in the hands of whoever is on duty for that slot. 

Here's the current system:

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/where-we-work/london-and-south-east/boating-facilities/locks-to-the-river-thames

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/planning-your-boat-trip/booking-your-passage-online

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I booked a slot to pass through the lock. I didn’t book far enough ahead to go through on the day I wanted so I have a day to wait in Brentford. This was in common with at least one other waiting boat. The lock-keeper let the single booked boat through then sat there with nothing to do for the morning. He gave an incomprehensible answer as to why he couldn’t let any other waiting boats through. He said it had something to do with health and safety. Maybe someone else understands? Rules is rules doesn’t satisfy me. I’m in a sea going boat and quite able to make the decision of a skipper whether to go onto the Thames.

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2 minutes ago, Jporter said:

I booked a slot to pass through the lock. I didn’t book far enough ahead to go through on the day I wanted so I have a day to wait in Brentford. This was in common with at least one other waiting boat. The lock-keeper let the single booked boat through then sat there with nothing to do for the morning. He gave an incomprehensible answer as to why he couldn’t let any other waiting boats through. He said it had something to do with health and safety. Maybe someone else understands? Rules is rules doesn’t satisfy me. I’m in a sea going boat and quite able to make the decision of a skipper whether to go onto the Thames.

 

Yes, rather odd. I can see he might need proof that you have a valid booking for tomorrow (or some other future date), that you have  a CRT licence etc. Maybe the  info has not yet arrived with him?

 

But I can't really see why it would then be a problem to go a day early (or a day early, come to that).

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I booked on the CRT site using my account. He said he had to enter the details of my boat on the system when he let me out and ‘the computer says no’ Is the CRT supposed to be run like a real business?

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1 hour ago, Jporter said:

I booked on the CRT site using my account. He said he had to enter the details of my boat on the system when he let me out and ‘the computer says no’ Is the CRT supposed to be run like a real business?

Good God, no.  CRT exists to build running and cycling tracks alongside the water.  Boaters, despite providing about a third of their income, are a nuisance which CRT grudgingly tolerate.

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4 hours ago, Jporter said:

I booked on the CRT site using my account. He said he had to enter the details of my boat on the system when he let me out and ‘the computer says no’ Is the CRT supposed to be run like a real business?

 

Proper business use a pyramid management technique, similar to, but inverted compared to the way C&RT operates :

 

C&RT has 27 Directors overseeing 15 Managers, who oversee 10 Regional Managers, who oversee 5 Area Managers who manage one 'worker', he is responsible for about 2000 miles of waterways and has control of the whole of the maintenance budget of £4 / 7 / 6

 

That is all that is left of their income after the salaries have been paid.

 

 

 

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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15 hours ago, Jporter said:

I booked on the CRT site using my account. He said he had to enter the details of my boat on the system when he let me out and ‘the computer says no’ Is the CRT supposed to be run like a real business?


One can sort of see how that might happen.  It's easier to design IT systems that work if the customer and supplier behave perfectly. It's a bit more work to allow some flexibility - eg to put two letters in the same envelope, or to change  order rather than cancel and start again, or to fulfill an order a day early (as here!). In this case it means adding a field for the actual date of transit when this is different from the booked date (at some locations eg Boston you can be several days late due to the weather). 

I am also lobbying CRT to upgrade the site to allow transits between Limehouse and Brentford. Last time I looked you were only offered slots between Brentford and Teddington.  But Hammersmith is now open again (see article in the September canalboat magazine, if I am allowed a puff).

dsc_3175.jpg?w=1024

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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  • 1 year later...

Update on CRT Brentford bookings system etc.

 

The CRT Thames Lock booking on their website has just been (partially) updated and now allows Brentford Lock bookings going to or from Limehouse.  Although the text on the page does not mention Limehouse, the drop down list for Direction now includes Brentford to Limehouse and Limehouse to Brentford.

 

They have also fixed the very annoying bug whereby at least 48 hours notice excluded the weekend, e.g. if booking on Saturday, you can now book a passage on Tuesday. Previously, if booking after 5 pmish on a Friday, the first day bookable was Wednesday.

 

CRT closed the Limehouse route for the last week for 'urgent repairs' that turned out to be normal maintenance, and did not include fixing the leaking seals that (together with low water levels in connected canals) mean that the LimeHouse Lock hours are further restricted to 2 hours each side of HW. 

 

The restricted hours, and CRT’s inflexible bookings, are not only a customer service issue, but also appear to be a safety issue, when boats attempt but cannot make the narrow Limehouse window, and then cannot divert to Brentwood because the ‘system’ won’t let them…. 

 

Finally, I'd like to plug http://thamescruising.co.uk/ which is the best site I've found for tidal Thames resources.  The Tideway Handbooks Upstream/Downstream etc at http://thamescruising.co.uk/?p=25 etc. are brilliant, though now 16 years old.  This site may be well known, but I found many other less useful sites listed above in in Google searches.

 

cheers

Bill, Dashfield

Jabulani

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We came through Brentford together with friends on another boat a couple of months ago after booking on line. We had earlier tried ringing but got no answer and CRT informed us that the phone is no longer manned and we should not assume it would be answered, I assume as the lock is not manned except at high tides when transits are booked.

 

Mind you, when we got to Brentford (having come down the Thames and we were the first boat to arrive) the gates were closed and it looked like there was nobody from CRT there. I was just about to climb up a ladder to see if anyone was in the lock office when a CRT man came out. I got the impression he might have been having a quiet nap, so perhaps another reason why the phone is not answered.

 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, jonesthenuke said:

We came through Brentford together with friends on another boat a couple of months ago after booking on line. We had earlier tried ringing but got no answer and CRT informed us that the phone is no longer manned and we should not assume it would be answered, I assume as the lock is not manned except at high tides when transits are booked.

 

Mind you, when we got to Brentford (having come down the Thames and we were the first boat to arrive) the gates were closed and it looked like there was nobody from CRT there. I was just about to climb up a ladder to see if anyone was in the lock office when a CRT man came out. I got the impression he might have been having a quiet nap, so perhaps another reason why the phone is not answered.

 

 

 

Your assumption is correct,  If there are no bookings for a particular window (HW-2 to HW+2, between 0700 and 1900) then it is quite possible the lock will not be manned.

The bookings should be made on the CRT licencing website. 

The phone does work "on the day", I have used it to talk to the lockkeeper and update them on our ETA.

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On 03/08/2021 at 19:03, Alan de Enfield said:

C&RT has 27 Directors overseeing 15 Managers, who oversee 10 Regional Managers, who oversee 5 Area Managers who manage one 'worker', he is responsible for about 2000 miles of waterways and has control of the whole of the maintenance budget of £4 / 7 / 6

 

You have just made all of that up, haven't you?

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