Boat strike damages lock gate

A BOAT striking the top gate of a lock has put it out of action.

Many boaters will have seen others wanting to descend a lock, purposely strike it with their boat's bow to enable a crew member to get off the front deck and quickly to the paddles.

Wrenched out of position

This is what happened yesterday (Thursday) at Gailey Lock (32) on the Staffs & Worcs but the boat stuck the gate so hard it wrenched it out of position and left it unworkable, Keith Gudgin reports.

It is expected that engineers will be on site today to assess the damage, and if at all possible, rectify it.

Stupidity

It was only recently that narrowboatworld pointed out the stupidity of the habit of striking top gates when descending—to save time—in that it results in the boaters themselves suffering when the gates eventually break.