Another Canal Death

[Graham Davis]

Thank you Tony

Edited December 21, 2011 by Graham Davis

[Roxy]

Hi, Just come across your forum and this particular topic.

I am the father of Michael who drowned in the T & M canal on the 3rd of December.

Purely registered and am posting to answer a lot of your arguments / opinions.

Yes the canal & so is any water that is not respected very dangerous.

Where we live you basically grew up around or in the canal, as kids & as a family we used to

slide down the overflows & regularly swam in it. Only earlier this year Mike was indeed

swimming in it. I have not read all of the posts but have seen a few that have remarked without

knowing the facts, and have stereotyped a teenager. He was not drunk, post mortem showed

83mg in blood (just on drink drive limit i believe). Of course there are people both old and young

who will drink & be invincible. Seen a forty year old man dive into a lake & break his neck when drunk.

Jumping the lock where we live has happened for years, grandfathers, fathers & kids, I'm sure it will

continue. Mike had jumped it on numerous occasions but was tought not to jump the canal when

it was down, at night or if he was alone. Showing off to his GF, in the wrong place, whatever

you call it, it was an accident, it hard for me to say that, but that what it was. And btw it was not

a cardiac rest before, jst a slip, miss of the edge, banging his chin on the opposite side and drowning.

Just hope this answers a few questions.

I am all for health & safety due to working in engineering & the water industry, but like I said accidents

are going to happen.

Feel free to comment / disagree in anyway, I will not take offence.

 

Oh & just for ref, this was the actual lock where it happened not as linked in other posts.

Wish it was the one by the pub then he probably would have been fished out.

 

http://g.co/maps/zywfa

 

Thanks

God bless you and your family and taking the time to explain why/how your son has died in such tragic circumstances. The news/media and papers do like to draw up there own opinions, hence why I havent got time to read them/nor believe whatever they print or say.

My thoughts are with you Tony and your family

Deepest Symphathy

Rachel xxx

[bigcol]

our condolences, very sad,

thoughts are with the family of man concerned

[bottle]

Tony

 

See post #49

[Ace 01]

My heart goes out to you and your family, I can only imagine what you're going through.

 

Ann

[dor]

Thank you Tony for your very reasoned post.

To put some of the posts here in context, there have been a few cases recently where deaths have occured on or by a canal. These have been followed by hysterical demands for all canals and waterways to be fenced off or filled in. In some cases BW have bowed to this pressure and despite their strained finances, have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds fencing off areas that have been open and used for two hundred years.

 

A few years ago, when he was about 20, my son was out with us and had gone ahead to set a lock. Whilst waiting for us he was eyeing up the lock with the intent of trying to jump it. He decided not to, but if he had, he could just as easily have succumbed to a similar accident.

[Ynot]

Tony,

 

So sorry to hear of your family tradgedy.

 

It is a reminder that whilst we are able to anonimously comment and voice our opinions on any event that we choose through the forum, those comments can have a direct and personal effect on people whom we may not expect to be reading them.

[kitman]

Hi, Just come across your forum and this particular topic.

 

 

Tony, sorry for your loss. I ,like most reasonable people, am fully aware how accidents happen can happen to the best of us. No one is totally immune.

 

I suggest you immediately disregard any unsavory comments you read on thread. I'll say it plainly, unfortunately this forum has it's fair share of jerks.

[Flocal]

As far as im concerned Canal, Rivers, streams ect are all dangerous wether you mis-use them or not.

 

Was only last night i slipped off the front of my boat because it was muddy and wet and thankfully landed on the Towpath. Had i slipped frontways i would of banged my head on the other side and possibly knocked myself out and wouldnt be typing this now as i wouldnt of been found until today!

 

Fairplay Tony for coming on here, i see it shut a few people up. Sorry for your loss and i have alot of respect for you to come on here

[carlt]

My condolences Tony, and the greatest respect for your reasoned analysis, despite your grief.

 

Let's hope your voice of reason silences those calling for "something to be done" about a piece of waterways equipment that is very safe, when used correctly and treated with respect.

[alan_fincher]

I would also like to add condolences to Tony, and am deeply impressed that he managed to give such a reasoned and measured response to what must clearly be a very distressing thread for him.

 

I personally apologise if I have said anything inappropriate.

 

A lesson I should learn from this, yet again, is not to take anything that appears in the press as likely fact, without actually hearing it independently proved to be the case.

 

I was dumb enough to believe that when they included a picture of a lock, for example, it was actually the one involved. Clearly it wasn't. With hindsight, and given how often such stuff is misreported, I should have stayed out of it, and I apologise for having let myself get drawn in.

[dave.e]

Tony,

 

I would like to add my condolences. Parents who have lost a child belong to an exclusive "club" - one that nobody wants to be a member of. I hope that you and your family manage to stay positive through the emotional rollercoaster of the grieving process.

 

It is not something that you will ever "get over". It's like carrying a heavy load which doesn't get any lighter, but you get stronger and more able to cope with it. It's over 4 years since our tragedy and for the family it feels like we have normal, happy lives - just a different normal from what we would have hoped for.

 

We should never wrap our children in cotton wool. You are right to say that somethimes things just happen.

 

Regards,

Dave Edwards

[Athy]

Tony, perhaps I was amongst that number who added 2 plus 2 and made five. I was obviously wrong and I apologise.

Mike

[Tuscan]

Quite a few years ago a good friend of mine who lived in a lock side cottage slipped while crossing the lock and drowned. Just an accident . Sorry for your loss Tony