"Notorious" Walsall Basin Strikes again.

[Laurie Booth]

On 28/10/2021 at 20:54, Rob-M said:

I've moored in Walsall on several occasions, never had any problems. Getting there though is another story.

Ditto

[Heartland]

If I heard correctly today on West Midlands Radio the basin at Walsall has had a problem of people falling in thinking the surface green algae was solid !

[Heartland]

The following images are reproduced from the Express & Star. Note the hazard tape.

 

[Alan de Enfield]

 

 

The pontoons look much cleaner and newer on the picture with the weed.

 

Presumably the weedy picture is an old-one ?

[ditchcrawler]

18 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

The pontoons look much cleaner and newer on the picture with the weed.

 

Presumably the weedy picture is an old-one ?

Only slightly. The balloon has not been there that long and I think the tape was put up after the last ones fell in, so a week maybe

 

[TheBiscuits]

23 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

The pontoons look much cleaner and newer on the picture with the weed.

 

Presumably the weedy picture is an old-one ?

 

Wet day and dry day looking at the concrete.

 

Before and after CRT removed the weed, obviously.

[Chris Lowe]

People will complain and to appease a minority they'll probably fill it in and make a car park.

[springy]

After the second recent incident C&RT cleared the weed (again) - possibly the first of Heartlands photos with the workboat was taken on the day it was cleared, the second one a few days before.

The Express & Star (Walsall Edition) has had at least three pieces recently on this - mostly rehashes of the same information.

 

springy

[Heartland]

Yes

I believe the top picture was after the weed was removed, and these were recent images within last few days. The question that has to be asked is why the people fell in. Was the surface so misleading for this to happen, perhaps ?

May be the whole concept of leisure facilities that have access to the main road and the canal side needs to be examined in case there are those people who come onto the canal side without realising that the canal extends so close to those venues.

There is a comparable example at Brindley Place, but there the moving boats give indication of the canal being there, and the water is quite visibel. The principal danger there are the rogue cyclists who treat the narrow space between the venues and the towpath edge as a race track.

[David Mack]

10 minutes ago, Heartland said:

There is a comparable example at Brindley Place, but there the moving boats give indication of the canal being there, and the water is quite visibel.

Didn't help this woman in Birmingham.

 

[ditchcrawler]

10 minutes ago, Heartland said:

Yes

I believe the top picture was after the weed was removed, and these were recent images within last few days. The question that has to be asked is why the people fell in. Was the surface so misleading for this to happen, perhaps ?

May be the whole concept of leisure facilities that have access to the main road and the canal side needs to be examined in case there are those people who come onto the canal side without realising that the canal extends so close to those venues.

There is a comparable example at Brindley Place, but there the moving boats give indication of the canal being there, and the water is quite visibel. The principal danger there are the rogue cyclists who treat the narrow space between the venues and the towpath edge as a race track.

It would be quite interesting to know where the people who fell in actually came from, were they visiting the area, locals or what. I have seen dogs try to walk or run across weed covered water and can understand kids doing it, but sober adults.

[David Mack]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

but sober adults.

Texting. See above.

[springy]

One of the recent E&S articles did suggest that sobriety was in question regarding some of the the adults - from an interview with someone from the Bar adjacent to the basin, hmm.

Today's E&S has a small piece saying that Walsall Council leader Mike Bird has raised the issue at a routine meeting with C&RT. The headline actually says "Extra Safety is put up by canal" although the article says safety measures are requested. It also suggests that "C&RT is only responsible up to the waters edge" and "numerous landowners" are involved so maybe C&RT can not erect any physical barriers unless they are in the water.

 

As for people walking and not paying attention (while texting ?) then what can be done ?   

 

springy

[Stilllearning]

8 minutes ago, springy said:

One of the recent E&S articles did suggest that sobriety was in question regarding some of the the adults - from an interview with someone from the Bar adjacent to the basin, hmm.

Today's E&S has a small piece saying that Walsall Council leader Mike Bird has raised the issue at a routine meeting with C&RT. The headline actually says "Extra Safety is put up by canal" although the article says safety measures are requested. It also suggests that "C&RT is only responsible up to the waters edge" and "numerous landowners" are involved so maybe C&RT can not erect any physical barriers unless they are in the water.

 

As for people walking and not paying attention (while texting ?) then what can be done ?   

 

springy

In reply to your final question, how about giving them Darwin Awards , honourable mention division?