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Osney Bridge, Oxford, River Thames


Scholar Gypsy

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There's a rather alarming video of this on the local BBC website, I can't work out to post the specific link, but the 1702 yesterday item here.

 

It's Osney bridge, not Botley though of course the Botley road goes over it... The river is I think on red boards anyway.

 

 

Yesterday, Monday 1 February, two unoccupied boats broke free of their moorings above Botley Road Bridge in Oxford. One lodged against the overspill adjacent to the bridge, took on water and sank in a position blocking the navigation. We have had two officers at Botley Bridge overnight to ensure the two boats stayed secure. River levels are not affected by the boats at the present time. We are currently working with the owner and our partners to determine the best way to have the boats removed. Until then boat passage through the Botley Road Bridge is impossible.

 

We apologise for any inconvenience and will keep you updated.

 

With regards,

 

Waterways Operations Team

Telephone: 03708 506506

Email: Waterways_west@environment-agency.gov.uk

 

www.gov.uk/river-thames-conditions-closures-restrictions-and-lock-closures

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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Oh dear!

 

Looks like the better boat, if there is such a thing, took the worst hit!

 

It always amazes me that when some people leave a boat, how poorly they tie it up!

 

To be honest, that would be the last place i would moor my boat unattended or not!

 

In fact, I think I recognise the boats, I think they have been there for quite a while, maybe they are official moorings!

 

Nipper

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Oh dear!

 

Looks like the better boat, if there is such a thing, took the worst hit!

 

It always amazes me that when some people leave a boat, how poorly they tie it up!

 

To be honest, that would be the last place i would moor my boat unattended or not!

 

In fact, I think I recognise the boats, I think they have been there for quite a while, maybe they are official moorings!

 

Nipper

Confirmed, I saw NB One Old Peculier moored above Osney Bridge in April 2014.

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Confirmed, I saw NB One Old Peculier moored above Osney Bridge in April 2014.

Thanks for that, just tells me that i still have a memory!

 

Pity it's the wrong bridge though!

 

Still, one out of two's not bad for me!

 

Nipper

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There's a small group of liveaboards of which 'Old peculiar' is one who have camped on that stretch for some years now.

At one time they fenced off part of the towpath side and caused a bit of hassle.

 

I don't want to disparage them at a time when the are at risk of losing their boats, but it's a silly place to moor anyway:-

  • The bank is soft, narrow and can't hold a normal mooring pin.
  • It's a narrow navigation channel, certainly very narrow for wide beamed craft passing
  • It also takes the main flow of the Thames at that point; quite a flow at normal times and horrendous when the River's on 'Reds'

I'm sure EA have warned them in the past and have been ignored....

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I had come here to post this sad news. Old Peculiar is still there this morning and looks to have sunk further overnight. It's certainly a dangerous place to come loose as it's directly opposite a weir, which the boat has been pulled into by the force of the flow.

 

Those are not, as far as I know, official moorings, but the boats have been there as long as I've been in Oxford. There was a fire on a plastic cruiser there last year as well, I believe.

 

I strongly suspect that if there were more official moorings, fewer things like this would happen. I can think of another three boat fires in Oxford in the last year, all of which were on unsanctioned moorings. At least two of those were made worse by being inaccessible to the fire fighters.

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River Thames information. No boat passage through Botley Road Bridge, Oxford.

 

Dear customer

 

Yesterday, Monday 1 February, two unoccupied boats broke free of their moorings above Botley Road Bridge in Oxford. One lodged against the overspill adjacent to the bridge, took on water and sank in a position blocking the navigation. We have had two officers at Botley Bridge overnight to ensure the two boats stayed secure. River levels are not affected by the boats at the present time. We are currently working with the owner and our partners to determine the best way to have the boats removed. Until then boat passage through the Botley Road Bridge is impossible.

 

We apologise for any inconvenience and will keep you updated.

 

With regards,

 

Waterways Operations Team

 

Telephone: 03708 506506

 

Email: Waterways_west@environment-a

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I had come here to post this sad news. Old Peculiar is still there this morning and looks to have sunk further overnight. It's certainly a dangerous place to come loose as it's directly opposite a weir, which the boat has been pulled into by the force of the flow.

 

Those are not, as far as I know, official moorings, but the boats have been there as long as I've been in Oxford. There was a fire on a plastic cruiser there last year as well, I believe.

 

I strongly suspect that if there were more official moorings, fewer things like this would happen. I can think of another three boat fires in Oxford in the last year, all of which were on unsanctioned moorings. At least two of those were made worse by being inaccessible to the fire fighters.

 

The Thames is not like the canal system where CaRT own the track - the wet bit and the towpath as well as some rights on the offside - so they can decide who can moor and where.

 

On the Thames, EA doesn't own much but has rights. The banks and bed are owned by Riparian Owners and it is them who decide who can moor - in many cases they don't exercise their rights.

 

In this particular case 'nobody knows' or will admit to owning this stretch - so folks moor, full in the knowledge that nobody can or will take any action. Sadly, with the reported results.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-35472033

 

 

The boat looks worse off at the end of the video than it was at the start of the rescue!

 

Yes, it ended up in a far worse situation after the bright sparks with the Tirfor dragged it stern first out from behind the relief channel waling, across to the towpath bank and turned it into a weir.

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Yes, it ended up in a far worse situation after the bright sparks with the Tirfor dragged it stern first out from behind the relief channel waling, across to the towpath bank and turned it into a weir.

 

With hindsight they might have been better off either leaving it where it first was or attaching a much longer line (say up to the other boats moored further upstream) so that it didn't broach to.

 

The River's slowly coming off Reds, so that may help recovery.

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With hindsight they might have been better off either leaving it where it first was or attaching a much longer line (say up to the other boats moored further upstream) so that it didn't broach to.

 

The River's slowly coming off Reds, so that may help recovery.

 

Yes, that short video clip shows it being pulled with the winch wire directly in line from the stern, so the outcome was pretty well inevitable.

I haven't been down that bit of the Thames for many years, but if I remember right, there's a side weir a bit further down just above Osney Lock and despite that relief channel by the bridge there's still a fair current down through the bridge toward the lock when there's some fresh on. There'll be a good bit less now though, while the temporary weir's in place.

On the first occasion I ever went down through Osney it was sheer luck that kept me from making some headlines in the local papers.

It was around 1970, and having ploughed our way down the Oxford with a pair of narrowboats loaded with coal for the Kennet and Avon Canal Society's steam dredger the joy of being able to get moving on the deeper water in the river ended up with the boats arriving round that slight bend which hides Osney Lock until you're quite close to it, singled out and travelling at a fair old rate, . . . much too fast really, on a river that I didn't know. Fortunately the lock was ready with the top gates open and no harm was done, but the lock-keeper had some fairly uncomplimentary things to say about lunatic boatmen off the canals.

Edited by Tony Dunkley
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... arriving round that slight bend which hides Osney Lock until you're quite close to it, singled out and travelling at a fair old rate, . . . much too fast really, on a river that I didn't know.

 

Got that T-shirt. In my case 1981, the river in flood (nobody had told me what those coloured boards mean) in a boat with a ridiculously short stern swim, undersized prop and corresponding inability to stop quickly. As I rounded the bend there in front of me was the gleaming white transom of just about the largest gin palace which will fit up that part of the river. Quite how I didn't put a narrow boat bow shaped hole in it I don't know!

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