New signs on locks

[blackrose]

My cynical self, based on what we have been told by BW staff, says that this is more about hire companies trying to avoid damage to their property, than about protecting life and limb. I'd like to think I was wrong, though.......

 

Well that's also fine by me - anything that might prevent a hire boater (or anyone else), getting caught on the cill and blocking the canal for hours or days is to be welcomed in my opinion.

 

Some idiot who moors near me on a Dutch barge recently managed to get his bows caught under a top gate going uphill. I think it would have sunk a narrowboat but his barge has so much buoyancy it lifted the gate right out of its retaining collar! The idiot watched it happening but instead of dropping the paddles he left the gates and tried to reverse away. I turned up behind him about half an hour later and should have taken a picture, but I was too busy phoning BW who got out within about an hour and a half (on a Sunday!) with a load of hydraulic jacks and managed to pop the gate back in. This guy is more interested in the plants on his roof than anything to do with boats and he wonders why things keep going wrong! Fortunately he is a rarity amongst Dutch barge owners.

 

I realise this example probably backs up your point about there being more accidents of this type than cilling accidents.

Edited July 29, 2008 by blackrose