Ask The Lock-Keeper

[WJM]

This is definitely not a criticism of the very nice people who work as lock-keepers and who do a very good job. But it a criticism of the glibly given advice to ask a lock-keeper for navigational advice, advice that is so often given on this forum.

 

Are people aware that lock-keepers very often have no boating experience themselves? Granted some do, but in my experience very few do. That is not a criticism, you don't need to be boater to be a good lock-keeper. Some are in the job for a very short time and have almost no knowledge of the surrounding waterways, again not a criticism, just a reality. And most importantly, in today's age of litigation and H&S, every lock-keeper is acting as an agent of his employer and so any advice he gives will be wide open to litigation. So even if he is profoundly knowledgable, he will only give you the company line - ie: the most cautious conservative line possible.

 

Local boaters are a far better source of information - it is not the lock-keeper's fault, he doesn't have to be knowledgable and even if he is, his hands are tied.

 

Think out of the box!

[Naughty Cal]

Not always the best bet to ask local boaters either.

 

Certainly our local lockies are a lot more knowledgable than the majority of the local boaters!

 

We personally use our own tide timings.

[Paringa]

Having had volunteers directing me on what bollard to put my rope - one that would have left me no control of the boat running back and onto the cill - I have enough experience to know when to ignore advice but more importantly enough experience to ask for advice!

[Naughty Cal]

Having had volunteers directing me on what bollard to put my rope - one that would have left me no control of the boat running back and onto the cill - I have enough experience to know when to ignore advice but more importantly enough experience to ask for advice!

I think it is important to distinguish between the volunteer lockies ( who do a great job in our local area) and those who have been working "their" locks for many years.

 

Our local lockies on the tidal locks have worked the area for many years and are very knowledgable. They know their locks and their river.

[Paringa]

Oh indeed...The resident was at lunch. Most volunteers do an excellent job on the Thames and i thank them for it...a few just get a bit lets say "over-enthusiastic"...

[Guest]

I think it is important to distinguish between the volunteer lockies ( who do a great job in our local area) and those who have been working "their" locks for many years.

 

Our local lockies on the tidal locks have worked the area for many years and are very knowledgable. They know their locks and their river.

 

Just to add it's the same on the commercial waterways further inland too.

 

Hopefully the decline in commercial trading will not see these guys and gals (at least one up here is a girl!) cast on the unemployment pile as the locks are so easy to operate that if the commercial boats stopped operating completely their services could arguably be dispensed with and possibly would be by a cash strapped CRT.

[Naughty Cal]

 

Just to add it's the same on the commercial waterways further inland too.

 

Hopefully the decline in commercial trading will not see these guys and gals (at least one up here is a girl!) cast on the unemployment pile as the locks are so easy to operate that if the commercial boats stopped operating completely their services could arguably be dispensed with and possibly would be by a cash strapped CRT.

Yep we have had the lady operate Whitley Lock for us when the commercials were around.

 

Hopefully they can keep their jobs. It would be a great shame if not.

[cheshire~rose]

You can never be too sure just how much authority or knowledge the lock keeper you are dealing with has.

 

On our recent travels we can across a queue for some locks and as usual Dave suggested I head up to the lock with my windlass to see if they needed organising. A boat slightly ahead of us in the queue told me not to bother as there was a volunteer on and they were awash with windlass wielding hirers from boats ahead. As I am basically just plain nosy I decided to head up there and suss out the situation for myself.

 

I found a lock keeper there direction the proceedings. He did not have a windlass and at first glance his apparent lack of windlass it would have been quite easy to fall in with having been told he was a volunteer. Realising I could speed things up a little by opening a paddle as the lock needed resetting for the next boat I checked with him and then set to.

 

As we waited for the lock to empty he came over and explained that he was not supposed to be doing this job today and so he had come out that morning without a windlass and now found himself somewhat embarrased at not having one. It was then I noticed his name badge and the fact there was no evidence of any mention of volunteers.

 

I asked him where all the volunteers were that day as he had obviously been moved away from other tasks to deal with a busy weekend at this lock. He gave me a very in depth reply about the problems they have had locally in getting volunteers and as we worked through the next 4 boats together we had a really good chat.

 

It turned out that tthis chap who one of the other boaters had assumed was a volunteer lock keeper was actually the CRT area manager!

 

As the gate opened to allow the next boat in the queue into the lock I realised it was our boat. He told me to jump on board - the queue was down to one boat behind us and he should have finished his shift some time back but he wanted to help us through the lock before he went home.

 

[Lockie Junior]

Speaking as a (long serving) volunteer lockie I would agree with the points made by the OP. While some of the VLKs may know a fair bit about the local area, moorings, river flows, etc and have a genuine interest in everything, this is not necessarily true of all of us (I'm definitely in the first category BTW). As has also been mentioned not many VLKs have any real boating experience, so may struggle to see things from the boaters perspective.

 

I will beg to differ on two points however. While many VLKs will give the most conservative, H&S conscious answer available, there are some of us who will answer questions based on local knowledge and common sense (we do however make it clear that advice is to be followed at the boaters decision and risk). Also, as Naughty Cal has said, local boaters don't always know best. Some have been boating every (and I mean every) weekend for years, whereas some will barely venture out of the marina more than twice a year.

 

As a final point: with all the chopping and changing that has happened in my area (Non-tidal Trent) in the past years, some VLKs (myself and about 5-8 others) are more experienced and longer serving than some seasonals. Just goes to show you can't judge a book by it's cover.

 

Regards,

Lockie.

[onionbargee]

BW and CRT seems to have done a good job in getting rid of any staff who actually have sound knowledge and experience of boating.

[Naughty Cal]

BW and CRT seems to have done a good job in getting rid of any staff who actually have sound knowledge and experience of boating.

Not always.

 

Thankfully they have kept our local long serving lockies.

[Lockie Junior]

BW and CRT seems to have done a good job in getting rid of any staff who actually have sound knowledge and experience of boating.

 

In some cases yes, but as said above, not always. We still have boatmen who have served 35-40 years on the River Trent. Several of our managers, and most of our other employees, also started out by working on the boats.

 

Lockie.