Barnton Tunnel is sound

DAVID Baldacchino, Waterway Manager for the Manchester & Pennine region writes to reassure readers of narrowboatworld about the problem at Barnton Tunnel.

"I can confirm that Barnton Tunnel is structurally sound and was only closed as a temporary precautionary measure.

"This followed a call from a concerned boater who heard a large splash behind their boat whilst going through the tunnel on Tuesday morning which they thought might be falling masonry. We took immediate action in closing the tunnel to any further traffic until a full inspection had been completed and until we were confident we could reopen it to our customers.

"Our engineers carried out a detailed inspection on Wednesday which concluded that no deterioration or failure had occurred and the tunnel was re-opened immediately. We're unsure what caused the splash but are grateful to our customers for alerting us."