Chaos as police close Oxford Canal

WITH the discovery of a woman's body in the Oxford Canal on Tuesday, the police cordoned off  the waterway, resulting in chaos for boaters.

Hundreds of boaters were left stranded on Tuesday and Wednesday as the waterway was sealed off after the woman's body was discovered north of Kidlington, Alan Tilbury reveals.

Boater saw floating body

It was a boater who alerted the police having seeing a body floating in the water by Shipton Bridge, with the police then closing the waterway, with boaters piling up at the few mooring places at what is one of the busiest canals in the country and at its busiest time of the year.

With the body having been taken from the canal, tensions rose amongst the boaters as the canal was still closed, with one boater yesterday breaking the police cordon refusing to wait any longer.

Not told what was happening

The problem was that the  boaters were not told what was happening, and  one boater even telephoned the Oxford Mail to try and discover the reason why the canal was cordoned off.

It was reported that some boaters were getting agitated at the forced delay, and particularly at the lack of information from anyone.

Horrendous queues

It was yesterday (Wednesday) when the police eventually opened the waterway, with horrendous  queues at the narrow locks, as boaters, most of whom were hire boaters, attempted to complete their journeys.

The police are not treating the death of the woman found in the canal as suspicious, but she remained unidentified last night (Wednesday), although it is thought she was in her late 50s or early 60s.