Victor discovers seven broken gate collars since March

Published: Sunday, 22 November 2020

IT TAKES some believing, but there have been seven broken gate collars since March!

Put it down to lack of inspection or lack of maintenance, but a gate collar shows wear and is clearly at view, so it's certainly one or the other. Possibly both.

Here they are in chronicle order showing the dates published in narrowboatworld:

20th March—Dreweatts Lock on the Kennet & Avon.

11th JuneWatford Flight on the Leicester Section.

30th JuneGuyers Lock, again on the Kennet & Avon.

6th July—Top gate on Atherstone Flight on the Coventry.

1st OctoberHampstead Lock, yet another on the Kennet & Avon.

20th OctoberLock 2 again on Atherstone Flight on the Coventry.

WatfordCollapse2And another!

Plus another one this weekend, Keith Gudgin tells us, with a broken collar on Fishpond Lock (4) closing the Aire & Calder at Rothwell.

I reckon you will agree, there is definitely something very wrong here, with gate collars being allowed to fail left, right and centre. 

For they are allowed to fail, as the lock gate at Watford shown in the photograph sent by Roger Fox, clearly shows it is hardly a clean break, but something that has clearly been disintegrating for some considerable time.

'Wait until it breaks' is undoubtedly a good policy for CaRT as it gets the most out of its structures, but it is certainly not for us boaters who suffer the never ending stoppages.

There's NABO

Though the Inland Waterways Association is a waste of time as far as boaters' problems are concerned, there is always the National Association of Boat Owners that certainly shows more concern.

At the moment it is fighting CaRT over its alteration of boat movement rules, that are most certainly not for our benefit, and that we shall publish tomorrow.

In the meantime you can do yourself a favour and join for just £25 a year.  See NABO.

Victor Swift