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Not One But Two Dangerous Incidents. Stoke Lock.


Victor Vectis

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Last Sunday we were travelling upriver on the Trent.

We left Gunthorpe Lock in the company of a small river cruiser and we heard, on the VHF, the lockie at Gunthorpe telling Stoke we were on our way.

The cruiser went ahead of us and as we passed Stoke Bardolph I radioed Stoke to tell them where we were. They replied that the lock would be ready for us when we arrived.

Turning right into the lock cut I could see the cruiser tied up to the left on the lock wall, the light was green, the gates were open.

As we approached the gates they started to close! The light still showing green. I blasted our horn and did an emergency stop. Gates now closed, light still green.

I got RW to the lock landing and crew (Little Else, aka Libby, of this parish) went up to see what the hell was going on.

The (volunteer) lockie said "They (meaning the people in the cruiser) said they hadn't seen you behind them" and "Oh. Is the light still green?"

Libby checked and came back to tell him it was. Only at this point did he turn the light to red.

I'm not angry at having to wait for the next locking but at that pillock all but closing the gates with our boat between them. (Wasn't there a topic about this a while back?)

It was obvious that he had not done a visual check despite being told by Gunthorpe and us that we were coming his way.

 

If that wasn't bad enough......

 

The cruiser went up, the lock was turned round and we went in.

Due to the deep shadow, this was around midday, we couldn't see the risers on the RHS (there are risers there but that isn't the point) so I shuffled the boat across to the other side, away from the control cabin.

Libby was at the front to get a rope around a riser and I was at the back waiting to do the same once she had got her rope on. I was looking to our rear when I heard a scream and looked round to see the sluices had been lifted and water coming towards us!

Not being content to almost trapping us in the gates the pillock had now raised the sluices before we had roped up.

He dropped the sluices on hearing our shouts and screams, came out of the cabin and said "Well you were on this side last time I looked"

It was obvious that he had raised the sluices without coming out of the cabin for that final "All ready? All set?" check to the boat(s) in the lock. We were the only boat in the lock at the time.

 

I've emailed the manager for the East Midlands, Sean McGinley, giving him these details and suggesting that the two vlockies, a man and a woman, at Stoke last Sunday are not fit to be left in charge of a deep, fierce and potentially dangerous lock such as Stoke. This is a real shame as all the other lockies, both full time and volunteers we met on the Trent had been great.

 

I await his reply with interest.

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I wouldn't hold your breath. We had a similar incident at Holme and nothing was done about it.

 

I was very nearly dragged off the front of our boat as I was in the process of roping up when the pillock opened the sluices. 

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22 minutes ago, matty40s said:

How is your sense of wellbeing getting on????

Well Libby was almost in, if not by, the water!

 

ETA She doesn't scare easily but was shaking for a good half hour after we left the lock. And that was after a good slug of brandy.

Edited by Victor Vectis
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Get yourself down to the Weaver, proper lock keepers employed by CaRT (though on a seasonal basis), always knowledgeable, competent and friendly. Sadly I suspect its only a matter of time before they are replaced by amateurs, sorry I meant volunteers.

 

...............Dave

 

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53 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

I've emailed the manager for the East Midlands, Sean McGinley, giving him these details and suggesting that the two vlockies, a man and a woman, at Stoke last Sunday are not fit to be left in charge of a deep, fierce and potentially dangerous lock such as Stoke. This is a real shame as all the other lockies, both full time and volunteers we met on the Trent had been great.

It was me that had the same problem but at Newark Nether Lock.

 

I made an official complaint to Sean McGinley & I questioned if there were any safety features in place, and, since the cabin has now been moved way back from the lock and anyone inside the 'control room' could no longer see into the lock why cameras were not installed I received a reply 6 days later as follows :

 

Alan,

 

Thank you for your email of the 16th October.

 

I was quite shocked to hear of your visit to Nether Lock and I hope you have fully recovered from your experience. It could, as you say, have been a lot worse.

 

We train and assess our volunteer lock keepers in the same we train our own staff and so I was disappointed to hear that the individual in question made such a mistake. On the basis of your email, the supervisor for that section is going to speak to individual in question about the incident and reassess him. He will only remain as a volunteer lock keeper if we are happy with his ability.

 

I hope this incident has not put you off navigating on the River Trent and I very much hope you have no cause to contact us again on such an issue.

 

Regards

 

Seán McGinley

Waterway Manager – East Midlands

 

I ask some subsequent questions and received the following :

 

Alan,

 

The gates have a relief valve for such instances and I have asked our engineers to confirm at what pressure they activate and likewise why the cabin was moved. I’ll get back to you with more details when I have them.

 

Regardless, we will carry out a full review of this incident with our safety advisor and consider what measures we need to employ to prevent a reoccurrence.

 

Regards

 

Seán McGinley

Waterway Manager – East Midlands

 

 

 

 

So that's all right then - if the gates had 'fully closed' and squashed us (GRP Cruiser) the relief valve should have kicked in.

I have never had any further communication (despite it now being 7 months ago) - presumably he has never received the 'more details' he requested.

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27 minutes ago, dmr said:

Get yourself down to the Weaver, proper lock keepers employed by CaRT (though on a seasonal basis), always knowledgeable, competent and friendly. Sadly I suspect its only a matter of time before they are replaced by amateurs, sorry I meant volunteers.

 

...............Dave

 

There is rumour they are putting volunteers on the Trent tidal locks which will be interesting!

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I think you need to insist that this is properly investigated, as that sounds very poor.  You have no choice (unless you travel out of hours I guess) with these locks other than to let the lock keeper be in control, and therefore they do need to be up to the job and take due care.  Glad to hear that they took Alan’s case seriously.

 

We had a bit of a faff at Nether lock last summer, but it was a big cruiser insisting that he had to go in first and on the left.  The lock keeper dealt with in on the radio very well and called us in first, I think just to piss him off, it made me smile ? 

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15 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

There is rumour they are putting volunteers on the Trent tidal locks which will be interesting!

Might not make much difference with some of the full time plonkers already on. It was me complaining a while back when Keadby lock gates were closed on me as I cut across the river towards it! His excuse was not that he hadn’t seen me, but that he didn’t know it the narrowboat booked in at 9am. Despite it being exactly 9am and me being the only downstream boat on the river. 

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Thats nowt. I was once approaching Holme lock in the Princess having been told by the lockie to lock up and giving me a green light. I was approaching as the gates opened and the lockie apologised and threw me a red light as he had forgotten boats!! were being locked down!! I had to reverse the Princess about 100 yds to clear the lock approach. Believe you me reversing the Princess blind even for a superstar like me is no mean feat.

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1 minute ago, noddyboater said:

That’s nowt. I entered an empty Holme lock one afternoon heading for Nottingham and a few pints in the “trip”, only to be held for half an hour so a newly married couple in a speedboat could arrive from downstream. Wasting my drinking time.. 

Now that IS serious ?

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25 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Thats nowt. I was once approaching Holme lock in the Princess having been told by the lockie to lock up and giving me a green light. I was approaching as the gates opened and the lockie apologised and threw me a red light as he had forgotten boats!! were being locked down!! I had to reverse the Princess about 100 yds to clear the lock approach. Believe you me reversing the Princess blind even for a superstar like me is no mean feat.

It was after you had left - I was at Holme lock one day with the Princess and a couple of other cruisers.

Long story short - Princess decided he would leave the lock first even tho' other boats were in front/around him.

There was a huge crunching / creaking / cracking sound as he exited under (apparently) full throttle leaving a crushed GRP cruiser behind him. The lockie called him on the radio but he said he could not stop as he didn't have time and for the cruiser owner to take it up with 'the office'.

 

The Cruiser remained afloat whilst I was  there - don't know what happened subsequently.

 

Never did hear what the outcome was.

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16 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

It was after you had left - I was at Holme lock one day with the Princess and a couple of other cruisers.

Long story short - Princess decided he would leave the lock first even tho' other boats were in front/around him.

There was a huge crunching / creaking / cracking sound as he exited under (apparently) full throttle leaving a crushed GRP cruiser behind him. The lockie called him on the radio but he said he could not stop as he didn't have time and for the cruiser owner to take it up with 'the office'.

 

The Cruiser remained afloat whilst I was  there - don't know what happened subsequently.

 

Never did hear what the outcome was.

:o I always locked at the far end of the lock and went in first. when tied up small boats like narrowboats and barges could tie up on the starboard side. I always let the other boats at my side out the lock first as drifting sideways into them would have been drastic in some cases!! I confess that on one occasion in high winds on approaching the lock down the rack I crushed a wooden cruiser but he had been told not to enter the lock approach because we were coming in but he apparently wanted to go first!! I caught it when the back end swung a little when I powered off trying to qet past him. It was curtains for him Im afraid and the cracking noise was awful.

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2 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

There is rumour they are putting volunteers on the Trent tidal locks

I can confirm hearing that from one of the more experienced full timers on Monday this week.

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