No staff to stop flooding

PILLINGS Lock Marina and the Loughborough Canal experienced a water level rise of around eight inches this morning (Wednesday 15th) due to the heavy rain in the night (which was forecast very publicly), writes Paul Lillie.

However, CaRT flood wardens were nowhere to be seen, so Pilling's Lock was left padlocked in the open position!

Could not locate duty warden

Despite efforts of staff and customers calling CaRT and the Environment Agency flood team, no one could locate the flood warden on duty and it was down to a staff member and customer of Pillings Lock Marina to take action.

The padlocks were cut off by these two guys to get one set of lock gates closed and put the canal back into the protected area.

Mercy of hearing pager

It seems amazing that not only have we got two organisations saying 'it's not our fault it's theirs...' on issues surrounding Pillings Lock and the Radial Gate there, but also that we are at the mercy of whether one individual hears their pager or not.

Why were the gates of the lock left locked open when such a heavy storm was forecast? Answers please!...