THE broken lock beam yesterday on the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal is the third in a week!
The beam on Lock 3 of Watford Locks has broken, meaning that boats can only travel through when volunteers are available, and padlocked when there are none.
Third in a week
This is the third broken beam in a week! Last Thursday we reported a broken beam on a lock on the Kennet & Avon Canal and on Saturday another broken beam on the Staffs & Worcs Canal.
In the past this was something that just did not happen, as trawling through the records for the past 10 years we could find no intimation of a broken lock beam, for obviously they had been replaced before they reached such a condition that they would break.
'Wait until it breaks'
Once again it well shows the 'wait until it breaks' policy of the Canal & River Trust—there just cannot be any other reason for such a spate of balance beams breaking.
As all boaters know, balance beams on locks are massive things, and really must have been allowed to badly rot before they would break.
Now that we are into the school holidays and hire boating is at its height, this is the time that the waterways are most used, and is showing up their weaknesses, as lock after lock is closed for repair and now beam after beam is breaking off.
It really is diabolical.