Drunk in charge of a boat arrest

A BOATER was so drunk that he fell off his boat into the canal by Braunston Marina, but if that wasn't bad enough he has now been arrested for being drunk in charge of a boat, Graham Phillips tells us.

Perhaps however he was lucky, as another boater falling in at Braunston Marina last month was unable to climb out, and drowned.

Called the police

It was a member of the public who called the police that a man had fallen off a boat, managed to scramble back on but by the way he was acting appeared to be drunk.

The police subsequently tested the boater, who was over the limit (the same as for driving) and arrested him for being drunk in charge of a boat.

Regular readers of narrowboatworld may be aware that we published that legislation had been brought in making it an offence to be drunk in charge of a boat, though it has been little used.

Crates of alcohol

Many believe this legislation to be sensible, especially seeing the antics of young men with crates of alcohol on overloaded day hire boats, as seen on Brian Holmes' photograph, that are a danger to not only themselves but to other boaters.

The problem is that they load up their boats with cans of cheap supermarket alcohol that is consumed, believing they are capable of handling a narrowboat.