Crash bang wallop, boat damages lock

[PD1964]

Was that a bit of “Click Bait”?

 Sometimes it’s too easy to blame CaRT for incompetence. Maybe sometimes they could get their own back with a little “Name and Shame” if the boat owner caused damage by his incompetent handling of his boat.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by PD1964

[Idle Days]

CRT should bill the boat owner, who in turn can forward the claim to their insurer.

 

[Machpoint005]

19 minutes ago, Idle Days said:

CRT should bill the boat owner, who in turn can forward the claim to their insurer.

 

 

CRT already knows the identity of the insurance company. Send the claim there!

 

 

[nicknorman]

1/ 20 tonne boat rams gate at 3mph, gate severely damaged

 

2/ 20 tonne boat touches gate at 0.01mph via fender. Gate which has been rotten for years, finally gives way.

 

Choose option 1 or 2 

 

in the case of 1/, the cause is boat damage

 

in the case of 2/, the cause is boat damage.

 

well that is the story according to CRT, anyway.

Edited February 10, 2022 by nicknorman

[MtB]

I agree with Nick above. CRT tend to state " boat damage" as that is often, on the day, the immediate cause. A bit like death certificates which state  the immediate cause of death was pneumonia or ARDS when the underlying cause of the pneumonia or ARDS was covid. 

 

Here is a rotting old lock gate on the southern Oxford held together with ad-hoc extra bits of wood and even a large ratchet strap, which it thumped by a boat will no doubt get reported as "boat damage".  It actually looks even more alarmingly fragile in real life than in the photo.

 

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

48 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

1/ 20 tonne boat rams gate at 3mph, gate severely damaged

 

2/ 20 tonne boat touches gate at 0.01mph via fender. Gate which has been rotten for years, finally gives way.

 

Choose option 1 or 2 

 

in the case of 1/, the cause is boat damage

 

in the case of 2/, the cause is boat damage.

 

well that is the story according to CRT, anyway.

 

I have no idea what you mean...

 

 

TBH I recalled taking this photo and I initially thought it was Swarkestone lock but I think on further reflection this was actually Stenson lock.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Captain Pegg

[Hudds Lad]

10 hours ago, MtB said:

Here is a rotting old lock gate on the southern Oxford held together with ad-hoc extra bits of wood and even a large ratchet strap, which it thumped by a boat will no doubt get reported as "boat damage".  It actually looks even more alarmingly fragile in real life than in the photo.

 

Where is that one exactly? Don’t recall seeing it as we came up from the Thames to Cropredy as i’m sure i'd have taken a pic. Hoping it’s behind us as it looks like a stoppage waiting to happen. Almost looks like it’s been set alight at one point  

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

Where is that one exactly? Don’t recall seeing it as we came up from the Thames to Cropredy as i’m sure i'd have taken a pic. Hoping it’s behind us as it looks like a stoppage waiting to happen. Almost looks like it’s been set alight at one point  

 

Its Marston Doldrums top lock. Or more accurately, the very top lock in the Napton flight. 

 

Photo taken late last summer. They may have fixed it by now but I've not bin boating to see for AGES!

[Stroudwater1]

Look like they are in the process of replacing  it in the Winter stoppages?

 

ID 19640 Category Winter Notice Towpath Closed No Date 04-01-2022 08:00 to 25-02-2022 16:00 Affected Waterway Oxford Canal Location Lock 13, Napton, Oxford Canal Upstream winding hole Engine Arm (Oxford Canal) Downstream winding hole Winding Hole 3, Nr Napton on the Hill A stoppage is required to carry out gate replacements, chamber brickwork and ladder improvements.

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Look like they are in the process of replacing  it in the Winter stoppages?

 

ID 19640 Category Winter Notice Towpath Closed No Date 04-01-2022 08:00 to 25-02-2022 16:00 Affected Waterway Oxford Canal Location Lock 13, Napton, Oxford Canal Upstream winding hole Engine Arm (Oxford Canal) Downstream winding hole Winding Hole 3, Nr Napton on the Hill A stoppage is required to carry out gate replacements, chamber brickwork and ladder improvements.

 

I think you're right there, Lock 13 sounds about right. They are DOING IT NOW!!! 

 

Well done CRT.

[Hudds Lad]

8 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Its Marston Doldrums top lock. Or more accurately, the very top lock in the Napton flight. 

 

Photo taken late last summer. They may have fixed it by now but I've not bin boating to see for AGES!

So thats Lock 16 on the Napton flight? They seem to have been poking at them for the last couple of years, but only Lock 13 has scheduled work on it this year according to the list.

 

Best put me specs on when we get there then, whenever we decide where to go  

[Stroudwater1]

No, its coffee break time I suspect 

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

So thats Lock 16 on the Napton flight? They seem to have been poking at them for the last couple of years, but only Lock 13 has scheduled work on it this year according to the list.

 

Best put me specs on when we get there then, whenever we decide where to go  

 

 

You're right, I've just checked Nicholsons and the lock gate on my photo is Lock 16.

 

Lock 13 as per the stoppage notice was in perfectly good working order last time I went through, so it looks like CRT have decided there is nothing needing doing to Lock 16 and those big luggage straps are gonna be good for another summer.

 

Well done CRT! 

[furnessvale]

15 hours ago, nicknorman said:

1/ 20 tonne boat rams gate at 3mph, gate severely damaged

 

2/ 20 tonne boat touches gate at 0.01mph via fender. Gate which has been rotten for years, finally gives way.

 

Choose option 1 or 2 

 

in the case of 1/, the cause is boat damage

 

in the case of 2/, the cause is boat damage.

 

well that is the story according to CRT, anyway.

Correct.  Several years ago I was accused of a 2 when I just and so touched a footboard at Tarvin lock.  It was rotten as a pear.  At Ellesmere Port I was approached by a BW official who informed me I would be paying for the damage.

 

As luck would have it BW were repairing it as I was returning that way.  I photographed the rotten wood on the towpath and told the BW men I would be paying nothing.  I heard no more about it.

[matty40s]

16 hours ago, nicknorman said:

1/ 20 tonne boat rams gate at 3mph, gate severely damaged

 

2/ 20 tonne boat touches gate at 0.01mph via fender. Gate which has been rotten for years, finally gives way.

 

 

If someone has not tied their boat securely above Stenson, and whacked up all the paddles to fill the lock, the boat will have been travelling quite quickly rather than staying where it should have done!!.

[Big Bob W]

Stoke Bruerne top lock this weekend. 

[Pete of Ebor]

I just wonder what C&RT's insurers would have to say if there was an issue with any of the locks pictured in this post which injured [or worse, killed] someone. A friend of mine has recently had an issue with her roof. When she contacted her insurer, they refused to pay out on the grounds that they believed the issue was either caused by or made worse by a lack of routine maintenance... 

 

 

21 minutes ago, Big Bob W said:

Stoke Bruerne top lock this weekend. 

 

[Grassman]

48 minutes ago, Pete of Ebor said:

I just wonder what C&RT's insurers would have to say if there was an issue with any of the locks pictured in this post which injured [or worse, killed] someone. A friend of mine has recently had an issue with her roof. When she contacted her insurer, they refused to pay out on the grounds that they believed the issue was either caused by or made worse by a lack of routine maintenance... 

 

 

 

This may be incorrect of course, but I've I read that CRT don't have insurance. They are legally allowed to settle any claims out of their own pocket so to speak.

[Captain Pegg]

6 minutes ago, Grassman said:

This may be incorrect of course, but I've I read that CRT don't have insurance. They are legally allowed to settle any claims out of their own pocket so to speak.

 

That's probably true and in any case even if they did I think they'd be more worried about what the HSE thought of it in the circumstances described.

[Mike Todd]

1 hour ago, Grassman said:

This may be incorrect of course, but I've I read that CRT don't have insurance. They are legally allowed to settle any claims out of their own pocket so to speak.

Not uncommon in large organisations - except for any insurance which is mandated.

 

I suspect that comprehensive insurance against any claim, not subject to negligence, would be hard to assess or to obtain, given that a breach could do plenty of damage and would cost a lot just to assess the damage (expecting all sorts of folk to jump on a bandwagon!)

 

No-one is generally required to have insurance, save, as I said, for situations such as third party car insurance.

[matty40s]

3 hours ago, Big Bob W said:

Stoke Bruerne top lock this weekend. 

Which was in exactly the same state when the bottom gate failed last year, they had plenty of work done on site to stabilise and then repair the bottom gate....absolutely nothing done to protect or strengthen that top beam when the opportunity was there.

[furnessvale]

20 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

No-one is generally required to have insurance, save, as I said, for situations such as third party car insurance.

Even that is not 100%.  When I worked for BR we had a certificate of compliance (or some such terminology).  A deposit was placed with the government, I think it used to be £250,000 probably more now.  Presumably the interest lost on that money was less than the cost of insuring thousands of vehicles.