Boat strike closes Kennet & Avon

IT WAS on Monday that our Keith Gudgin wrote that boats striking lock gates will cause failures, and again it has occurred.

This time a boat has struck the gates of Wash House Lock (10) on the Kennet & Avon at Bath and put the lock out of action, he reports.

Idle boaters

All too often idle boaters ram their boats into the top gates of a lock to both save either mooring or holding back the boat and then walking to the lock enabling a crew member on the bow to climb straight onto the lock gates.

Such continuous behaviour eventually makes the lock unworkable, as has occurred in this instance, with the waterway closed and thus any boaters wanting to leave the Avon at Bath now stuck on the river until the damage can be rectified, as Bath Deep Lock is also closed.

There have been calls for such boaters to be sued for the cost of the repairs of their actions.