Today I got a call from the office saying my day boat would be late back because there was a boat stuck in the lock. Of course, I have never heard that one before. Ha! So I jumped in the car and drove down to the lock and sure enough there was a boat stuck in the lock.
The gate had something behind it and the wooden boat possibly a bit wider due to age was firmly wedged, half in half out. What is a body to do. Well the boater called BW who could not turn up for an couple of hours, but the boater had to be somewhere else. So he left a note and buggered off saying he would be back tomorrow at 4.30. By the time I got there, two boats were waiting to go down and two were waiting to go up, a third one came along presently.
I sorry but I do not accept that any boater should leave his boat with a note on it saying:-
| Sorry – boat stuck in lock
BW not answering calls
Need to go now to look after
my friend who needs 24 hour care
Pease feel free to have a go at getting it out
– I’m free to come back on Sunday 4,30
sorry for any inconvenience Dave 07743334453 Sat 4 pm |
I am sorry for his friends circumstances but this is not our problem. To block the canal and walk away is totally inconsiderate. Unacceptable behaviour. If his friend needed 24 hour care there was obviously someone with him at the time the boat got stuck. You cant just walk off and leave a boat stuck in a lock. It just aint cricket! What he has done is to steal time from people, time that he cant ever return.
This all goes back to something I was saying earlier in the day. People who are short term visitors on a booze cruise or those who come to to the water for cheap accommodation do not have any affinity as other boaters for the system and the life on the water.
I don’t have a problem with people coming to the water for cheap accommodation, but lets put them in a marina out of harms way.
This is Mike from College cruisers clearing behind the gate.
This is the offending boat which is now stuck on the lock mooring.
16 comments:
I am too nice...even for a cynic. I just assume that the behaviour is so outrageous that it must have been extenuating circumstances...perhaps it was. Having recently provided 24hour care and had some close calls with hand overs I sort of respect this person for putting their loved one first. It IS annoying for everyone else..... And it is possible the person couldn't be bothered but even so.
I am surprised you put the entire phone number on the Internet to be honest.
It IS irritating, I don't dispute that, someone else has to clear up someone elses problem. But I suppose the delay would have occurred even if the person had stayed....
Well Had it been a car that had been abandoned on a motor way it would have been tow and a charge made for the recovery and removal. But instead good people gave up there time to help, and got no word of thanks from the owner as he had just buggered off and left a mess for others to clear up. While I'm sorry to hear about his friend that does not excuse him for the problems that he just passed on to all those that took part in freeing his boat at no cost to him. JUST PLAIN SELFISH
Maffi, Mike from college cruises is 74yrs old this year, if he can get a boat out the lock without 24hr care what does that say!!!!!
I just wonder if the boater would been quite as casual about the situation, and his decision, if the consequences of leaving his boat was an automatic mandatory £1000 fine.
Somehow I think we know the answer to that one!
I posted the anonymous comment above but one because it was simply factual. I probably know who it was anyway.
Skipper points out if you find an abandoned boat at sea and rescue it, you can claim salvage rights. Can you on the canals?
I would hope that in this situation it was extenuating circumstances hence a fine wouldn'tt have made any difference...especially as it wouldnt have gone to those who were inconvenienced!!!!
Anne/Olly where are you? Who are you? Your profile gives no info at all.
I'd give the person some slack, if your boat gets stuck but you cant get it out and a HUMAN BEING is in need elsewhere... well my mind is that the boat can wait until British Waterways turn up, the other waterways users can wait too, as boating isnt a race and things like this happen.
Surely better to go to the aide of a person, whom it is possible to help and apparently needed assistance than sit waiting like Clem on a boat that is going no where fast? did the fact the person left the boat behind actually slow the process of its removal? Probably not Im guessing?
Walk a little in the other persons shoes, see it from their perspective.
Jayne if his friend need 24 hour care then it seems obvious to me that he had that care at the time the boat got stuck.
Hire boaters have a schedule to keep to if their boat is late it can cost £150. As it was they were nearly an hour late. And of course its not just the day boat being back late but someone then has to clean it because it has to be ready for the next customer. And yes the removal time was increased because the hire boaters wouldnt have known what to do. To have got it that stuck he must have hammered it in. Bad boatmanship!
So walk a little in the hires shoes or in my shoes and see it from our point of view.
It is his boat he should have known that it would not go in with an obstruction behind the gate.
We are Wandering Snail, currently back in England cos of Skipper's health but desperate to return to our European Wanderings - hopefully next Spring.
Ah ha all is revealled. I had the odd Idea you were the girl down by Shipton Bridge. Both her dog and boat are called 'Olly'. How is the skipper.
Possibly as good as it gets, thanks which is Europe doable and makes financial as well as 'health' sense to stay til next year now the boat's back.
It's not like Dave leaves his boat stuck in every lock, & sure it was inconvenient for a few people but nothing really happened here to drag out the moral-canal-soapboxes. He gave his reasons, apologised, left his phone number [that now everyone has] & went on his way saying he'd be back at a given time. No one knows how long he was there before deciding to 'bugger off' or how far he had to go to get to where his friend needed him. Imagine if the sign had said "Gone to the pub. If you move my boat I'll shoot you." Dave could've been a cut legend.
Yes it did you moron. Ask yourself this: Who was looking after his friend while he was moving his boat?
When he opened the gate he must have known he couldn't get his boat in the lock, but he wedged it in anyway.
He left his phone number for all to see whats the problem?
Yes he could have been a legend instead he is a leg end.
Dont make excuses for him this was damned selfish and could well have cost those hirers taking boats back to base a lot of money.
While others were getting his boat out of the lock he was standing by watching FFS!!!
Having recently been a carer for someone and had a couple of close shaves I don't think it should be taken as read that whoever was looking after the friend could have stayed any longer.
THe guy shouldn't have got his boat stuck but he did and everyone makes mistakes, especially if they are stressed.
IF he was standing watching then perhaps he could have explained at the time.....
It's unfair to call someone a moron and its a harsh judgement on this particular boater without the facts. It's not a fair thing to do (not least because others wanting to use the lock may also have been on a tight schedule) but, even so, people are people.
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