Hirer crushed against bridge

A HIRE boat crew member, hanging onto the side of the boat on the gunwale, had his chest crushed as he was trapped between the steel hull and the bridge.

It was last Saturday afternoon a member of crew on a hired day boat returning to base at Sileby on the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal was on the  boat's gunwale as the boat was approaching a bridge, Pam Pickett writes.

New to boating

With this man's weight making the boat feel unstable the steerer, new to boating, now got too close to the side of the bridge before the crew member on the gunwale had time to get back into the boat. This resulted in the man's chest being crushed against the bridge wall. [The above picture shows what most us have seen with hirer of day boats having little sense of safety.]

Now lying in the boat it was thought this man was having a heart attack, and with the day boat now brought into Pillings Lock Marina, the Air Ambulance was called. I'm told however that instead of the thought to be heart attack together with the additional possibility of a broken rib having pierced a lung, happily neither proved to be the case.

Broken rib

Whilst a broken rib was diagnosed, the remaining injury proved to be severe bruising to the chest. Despite the injuries he has sustained I would suggest this is one very lucky man that with hindsight will in future stay within the confines of the boat when approaching narrow bridges!

I should point that the crew of this day boat had received more than adequate training before setting off from Sileby Mill on the Soar, but as those at Sileby Mill that now also offers skippered cruises point out, it is impossible to cover every eventuality, that once 'out of sight' some things just have to be down to common sense on the part of the crews.