Hire boater dies in Oxford Canal lock

Published: Friday, 31 July 2009
A WOMAN hire boater died yesterday (Thursday 30th July) after she fell from her boat into a lock on the Oxford Canal.

The accident happened after the boat, which had been hired from a Rugby hire base, had entered Cropredy Lock, with the woman falling from the stern and believed to have struck her head as she fell into the water.

The emergency services were called to the scene during early Thursday evening, and the canal was closed to navigation whilst the police investigated the tragedy.

Amanda Chapell, a local councillor from Diptford near Plymouth and her family, had been on holiday, and she was declared dead at the scene by paramedics. There are no suspicious circumstances.

It was at Alrewas that another boater fell from the stern of a hire boat and died, that time a Canaltime boat, being pushed into the water by the swinging tiller as the rudder stuck. Once again this highlights the dangers to the unwary hire boater, and yet again will give credence to those that want a tightening of the level of instruction to hirers and emphasis of the dangers of the waterways.