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W'arter complicated situationONE has to have some sympathy for British Waterways in its efforts to get the Tyrley water point working again. This has been out of action for 12 months since the treatment plant used to purify the water from a bore hole decided to breakdown. It now transpires that since the water point was first introduced the water industry has suffered from the imposition of legislation under the Water Industry Act of 1991.
Water point wrapped-upArising from this Act is a Statutory Instrument entitled The Private Water Supplies Regulations. This is an abstruse document of which Sir Humphrey would be justifiably proud. It appears from this, in as much as one can interpret it, that because the water point is for the use of the public in the form of boaters, the purification process has to be of a much higher standard than for simple domestic use. In order to ensure compliance with the regulations not only is the cost of a treatment plant astronomical but the annual maintenance costs are fairly eye watering too. Due to this I understand over the grapevine that British Waterways are now proposing a much cheaper solution which is to run a pipe along the towpath from Market Drayton so that its Tyrley requirements can be met by Severn Trent. With any luck this should be done over the winter so that things are back to normal for next season. Where are they?THE temporary cill notices at Tyrley Locks which I commented on before are gradually disappearing. Only two remain out of the five put in place. Best of all, on one gate the notice was put on just before the painters arrived so now we have the situation seen in the picture where the lock beam is painted except for the position of the notice.
I find it increasingly difficult to understand how Robin Evans can justify the expense of fitting these temporary notices. If they are considered important enough to display why aren’t they being inspected and replaced as they fall off. As I have said before, British Waterways tokenism to Health & Safety. Your number is up
LOOKING at the lock beams at Tyrley I see that they have now also been well and truly numbered. Did you every see such idiotic numbers though and a lack of consistency with numbers on the bottom gates being done with a stencil but the top gates in a grotesque freehand.
Why on earth, if it was necessary to emphasise the lock numbering, didn’t they pick out the existing relief numbers in a contrasting colour paint instead of adding a further number. For a national organisation how do they justify such amateurish work. Stencilled numbers would have been much more acceptable and cost no more to do. Muddled thinkingDID you study the picture of the towpath improvements carried out in the Black Country by Groundwork Black Country that appeared in 'Topical'? Was it just bad design by a clown who sits in front of a computer all day and never sees a canal or was it our friends the Health & Safety jobsworths at work? The bollards are on the wrong side of the towpath! If they were put where they are to avoid tripping people did they not think about the hazard of mooring ropes across the path? I also notice that the work boat is diplomatically tied to the piling! Why didn’t they put the granite sets alongside the piling with the bollards in them and move the towpath further from the water’s edge? Double standardsVOLUNTEER groups spend hours with British Waterways Health and Safety jobsworths who nit pick over every detail of their safety standards and method statements. Why do they not apply the same rigour to outside contractors? Look at the picture of the three painters being employed by the contractor who is painting Tyrley Locks. No reflective jackets, only the one on dry land wearing his life jacket, no signs of either wet paint or of the presence of workmen, sorry, work persons. In addition boaters were saying that they were being dangerously obstructed when trying to work the locks. What point is there in British Waterways making a set of complex rules if it has no mechanism to police them on the ground? It would also be interesting to know why it chose the first week of the school holidays to paint the locks. Ancient MarinerSTILL no functioning water point at Tyrley. Truly a case of water, water everywhere and never a drop to drink. It is now some 11 months since the flow of water ceased and still no signs of a repair. It really is beginning to look like heroic incompetence on the part of someone at Northwich. I have it on good authority that one furious Tyrley moorer is attending Robin Evans’ meeting at Whitchurch to confront him over the matter since he has been paying mooring fees for a mooring with a water point for the whole time without the water. It will be interesting to see what transpires. |
IncompetenceTHERE may be moves afoot to ensure that hirers are competent to operate the vessels they hire but last week I saw an example that surpassed any previous experience. A Day Boat was trying to turn, and the steerer obviously didn’t have a clue what to do. The result was that the boat was blown sideways down the canal until trapped against a British Waterways work boat. I and another boater went to assist but found that all the passengers, and steerer, were Chinese whose only English words seemed to be “thank you”. Made for an interesting few minutes but we did eventually manage to get them heading back towards base. Safe landingPAM was grumbling the other day about having to 'tread water' at Kegworth Deep Lock because of the inadequate lock landing. Even with adequate landing space there can still be a problem with some boaters. Whilst it is perhaps acceptable to 'tread water' if at the head of a queue for a lock I don’t understand why some people seem to take pride in trying not to land when there is a queue. I saw a wonderfully selfish example a couple of weeks ago when a boat steadfastly refused to take one of the two remaining spaces in a queue on the landing. It was quite a windy day so he couldn’t just sit in one place but had to manœuvre a good boat length to and fro and was all over the place. As a result a following hire boat, with a relatively inexperienced crew, was unable to take the vacant space which would have been available to them had he not been blocking it. They finished up being blown aground on the offside and had considerable trouble getting off again. Must be a macho thing trying to avoid getting off the boat for a lock! No notice
THE picture shows a warning notice on the beam of Lock 2 at Tyrley. It may as well not be there as it is totally illegible. I know that it was attached when a new top gate was fitted with a right angle bend in the striking plate which was trapping boats and making them liable to lift the gate when coming up in the lock. The gate was subsequently modified—why was it wrong in the first place?—making the notice unnecessary; so, why is it still there? All boils down to the point I made above, if the notices are necessary why aren’t they replaced when they disappear or become illegible? My guess is that because a Health & Safety jobsworth has ticked a box, and as far as they are concerned that is the end of the perceived problem. Come and join usHEARD from a canal enthusiast at the Robin Evans meeting at Whitchurch during a discussion about the press release that day to mark 60 years of British Waterways in which they appeared to claim the credit for the revival of the canal system. “I’m so glad British Waterways finally decided to join us.” Another milepostIN CASE you think that I have no concerns about personal safety when working on the waterways you will see from the picture that the Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS) work party spent a jolly morning reinstating the milepost at Shebdon. All the members of the work party were equipped with personal safety equipment and the job was done strictly in accordance with the British Waterways approved method statement and the site left clean and tidy.
SUCS work party dressed for the jobWhat a contrast to the painters. SUCS find, with most of the volunteer work party members at or above retirement age, their lifelong work experience makes them a great deal more careful and concerned for their personal well being than younger employed workers.
Contractors with no care for health and safetyIncidentally, this milepost is a replica, the original having been stolen from Morrison’s equipment enclosure whilst awaiting reinstatement after they had removed it to facilitate the works to pile Shebdon Embankment. NoticedYET another of British Waterways’ pathetic pieces of tokenism to the sacred cause of Health & Safety. The notices shown in the picture appeared on the locks at Tyrley today. They might last overnight if they are lucky although one has already come adrift. Why only temporary notices when other locks have been fitted with metal notices?
A paper sign—just for Robin?Because Robin Evans is visiting the area tomorrow and they have to show that they are complying with his commands but are unable to do this properly because the locks are listed and they have to get listed structure consent to affix the notices. Something actually takes precedence over Health & Safety! The photographs on this page are by the author. |
