Incident at Foxton Locks

[Lady M]

I'm sure the path on the offside of the locks is new. Previously the gongoozlers were confined to the tow path which is nowhere near the sideponds. This appears to be a new risk created by putting a path on the 'wrong side' of the locks.

[David Mack]

I'm sure the path on the offside of the locks is new. Previously the gongoozlers were confined to the tow path which is nowhere near the sideponds. This appears to be a new risk created by putting a path on the 'wrong side' of the locks.

 

I was wondering how long the offside path has been there. It is shown in the 1999 historical imagery in Google Earth, so its not that new.

 

But as a boater I would walk up the offside between locks anyway, so the issue is there whether or not there is a formal path.

[Guest]

No path visible on the offside circa 1940's

 

http://www.leicestershirevillages.com/foxton/gallery,570860.html

 

So if not new I would say a relatively new addition - the path looks to be a lot safer than the offside back then.

[Tim Lewis]

There are two culverts for each side-pond. One taking water from the higher lock to the pond, and one taking water from the pond to the lower lock, so this could be solved by only putting a grille over the sidepond-to-lock culvert. Of course if you think falling into a lock is at least as likely as falling into a side pond, then you'd need a grille at the lock end of the lock-to-sidepond culvert.

 

Actually, since it's been demonstrated that going through the culverts is survivable, and being drowned whilst pined against a grille is very possible, I don't think that the grille idea is a go-er. Unless CRT get some balls to stand up to the HSE, it'll be fences.

 

MP.

But this incident was survivable because the boat in the lock was a short one enabling the lady to surface and be spotted. If the boat in the lock had been a full length boat the outcome may have been tragically different.

 

Tim

Edited August 7, 2015 by Tim Lewis

[KarlosMacronius]

instead of a fence they could plant bushes or a hedgerow on the slope. Shouldn't detract too much from the appearance of the site but should be enough to stop someone falling down the slope.

[NickF]

 

 

Point of order m'Lud.

 

Is it a side pound or a side pond? Or are both correct?

As I understand it it is a pound if it is part of the actual canal as at Caen Hill but a pond if separate as at Foxton, Watford and also the top three at Droitwich.

 

I have no idea where i got that from so i may well be wrong!

[Dharl]

instead of a fence they could plant bushes or a hedgerow on the slope. Shouldn't detract too much from the appearance of the site but should be enough to stop someone falling down the slope.

 

Very sensible option...have a greenie.

 

We used Foxton recently and was surprised and the large number of humanity who crowded in at the locks to watch (help / hinder) our passage. It was a nice Saturday afternoon I suppose, but at the time I was thinking that couldn't be a good idea to mix such a large number of people whilst boats where trying to work through the locks. We actually found that a few days later when we reversed our course on a damp and over cast morning we were able to 'fly' up the locks in about 40mins (mind you I find that going up hill in narrow locks to be quicker than going down any way.......topic drift!)

[Sea Dog]

"Bystanders including locks staff managed to rescue her before she was airlifted to hospital."

Call me old fashioned but, after the air ambulance had taken the trouble to get there, I reckon they should have let them take her!

Poorly written article, but a good result for the lady concerned.

[IanM]

 

Call me old fashioned but, after the air ambulance had taken the trouble to get there, I reckon they should have let them take her!

 

 

But then the helicopter is tied up for the time taken to get to the hospital. In this instance, if another emergency came up requiring the air ambulance it could go straight there from Foxton.

[bottle]

 

Pretty ain't it.

[alan_fincher]

 

 

Point of order m'Lud.

 

Is it a side pound or a side pond? Or are both correct?

 

 

In the case of Foxton and Watford they are side pounds because they are not there to save water but to act as the intervening pound between locks on a flight.

 

 

That's not the answer I would have given.

 

In my parlance I would say Foxton has side ponds. Side pounds, I would say are as at Caen Hill, (or at many BCN locations) - they are logically part of the canal between two locks, to increase the water capacity of that pound, but you would not normally go boating into them, (although I have seen people try!).

[GoodGurl]

It's an easy solution without having to put bars and railings everywhere, Just stop the public from going non towpath side, why do they need to go that side anyway?

[Lesterboy]

Trouble with grills on culverts is that they get easily clogged up with debris such as wood and weed etc which would normally pass through. It would Also prove difficult to reach to clear.

[FadeToScarlet]

It's an easy solution without having to put bars and railings everywhere, Just stop the public from going non towpath side, why do they need to go that side anyway?

I would guess sheer weight of numbers. You get hundreds of people at this flight on sunny weekends, I wouldn't like to see double the number on the towpath side, that would be dangerous.

[StephenA]

That was definitely the case on the Watford flight where I believe a dog fell in the lock and was found in the side pound a few years ago

 

We were in one of the wide locks on the T&M when a Labrador suddenly appeared in the lock along side us - it had fallen in above the lock and had gone straight through. We managed to pull it onto the back deck (not an easy task in itself) and it looked like its back was broken and it sort of dragged itself around. But by the time we got up to the top of the lock it was walking round but was obviously shaken. Owner said he was taking it straight to the vets to be checked out.

 

If he had had the dog on a lead the whole thing would not have happened.

[GoodGurl]

I would guess sheer weight of numbers. You get hundreds of people at this flight on sunny weekends, I wouldn't like to see double the number on the towpath side, that would be dangerous.

At least they wouldn't drown on that side.

[Tim Lewis]

At least they wouldn't drown on that side.

 

Don't bet on it, having done Foxton many times at busy periods it is quitr frightening owmany times that I have seen people nearly being swept in by balance beams.

 

Saying that, the vast majority of people do use the towpath side to walk up the locks.

 

Tim

 

Tim

[adam1uk]

I would guess sheer weight of numbers. You get hundreds of people at this flight on sunny weekends, I wouldn't like to see double the number on the towpath side, that would be dangerous.

To me, this just illustrates that it's not a huge problem. Hundreds of visitors a day (and even weekdays are busy there) and very few accidents. It's not as if people are falling in on a regular basis, is it?

[David Mack]

It's an easy solution without having to put bars and railings everywhere, Just stop the public from going non towpath side, why do they need to go that side anyway?

1. Boaters do need to go that side, and CRT are as respnsible for boaters' safety as they are for gongoozlers' safety.

 

2. How would you stop the public accessing the offside? Bars and railings perhaps?

[alan_fincher]

It's an easy solution without having to put bars and railings everywhere, Just stop the public from going non towpath side, why do they need to go that side anyway?

 

I would say, knowing what I do about South East waterways, that Foxton is probably the place where more than anywhere else CRT wish to boost further visitor numbers. There are plans to keep growing and improving the museum, a camp-site, I think, and for further walking trails to, I believe. If they could add a fairground they probably would!

 

I think if CRT get their way, how it is sometimes now may look quite mild with what it may eventually become.

 

The new SE waterways manager comes entirely from an "attractions" background, and boosting non boater visitor numbers is very much her focus. One thing that noticeable caught her attention in a public meeting was a local business there questioning just how much revenue CRT are losing out on because the parking meters in the CRT car parks regularly can not collect the money!

 

All that said, I'm amazed someone can pass through one of those culverts relatively unscathed - I would not have thought them big enough. Thank goodness nobody dropped the paddle on her as she passed under that!

[FadeToScarlet]

I think a nice, wrought-iron-style fence would not detract at all, and in today's theme park-ified flight, would be sensible. The outcome of this could have been very different indeed, and it's a different edge- an uneven grass slope, for the unwitting to trip at the top, or step back, and roll down.

 

I nearly pushed a young child in with a balance beam- I had many willing helpers to push it open with my back, but didn't notice the young lad who went behind me and pulled- until he was nearly pushed right over the edge, and had to grab the handle.

[David Mack]

I think a nice, wrought-iron-style fence would not detract at all, and in today's theme park-ified flight, would be sensible.

I thing a wrought iron style railing would be rather inappropriate for a rural location like this. A timber rail, as in found elsewhere on the GU, would be much more in keeping with the location.

 

Here's an example fencing off the sideponds at Stoke Bruerne Bottom Lock:

 

 

[Alan Saunders]

There are accounts of working boat people falling into canals and drowning over the past 200 years. Some report people falling in to a lock and being sucked through a sluice, maybe children. Many did not survive but basic first-aid and resuscitation was unknown then.

 

When working a boat I may confidently stand on the edge of wet, slippery coping stones; otherwise I tend to hang three feet back from the edge. Unfortunately many visitors to our canals and rivers do not seem to have my innate fear of falling or drowning.

 

Alan

[GoodGurl]

1. Boaters do need to go that side, and CRT are as respnsible for boaters' safety as they are for gongoozlers' safety.

 

2. How would you stop the public accessing the offside? Bars and railings perhaps?

1. I said the public not boaters, boaters are more aware of their surroundings.

2. Remove the bridges that go across the locks.

[Texasboater]

Put wire mesh over part of the pond to catch em?