Inflammable backside

THERE are some silly people cruising the waterways, putting themselves and others at risk, but this one takes some beating.

The picture by Roger Fox shows the stern deck of a narrowboat moored on the Thames above Teddington Lock, containing four gas bottles, a generator, a can of petrol and two more cans, and enough inflammable material, including boxes and tyres, for it to all burst into flames and destroy the boat

Continuously moored

The boat is one of about 20 continuous moorers at the end of the Teddington Lock moorings against land owned by the London Borough of Richmond, Roger tells us. They have been there for something like two years and are a great bone of contention with the locals. Some of them appear to have current Thames licences.

The Thames of course is managed by the Environment Agency, that surely should be patrolling, and not only making sure such an obvious fire risk should not be allowed, but sorting out those that are obviously breaking the mooring rules.