I HAD been completely unaware of the works at Camden until I arrived there last Friday on my way down the Regent's Canal. No warning signs anywhere, writes Roger Fox.
New top gates have been put in place on the market-side lock and the old steel balance beams re-fitted. I say put in place rather than fitted because the new gates leak so badly that I cannot believe that anyone did any fitting at all.
Waste of time, effort and money
The leakage all round and especially on the cill is really bad and they are almost indistinguishable from the ones they replaced. They are a disgrace and whoever was responsible for their acceptance as fit for purpose should be ashamed. What a waste of time and effort—and money too.
The work had shifted on Friday to the other lock where a team was manually removing debris from the drained lock. New bottom gates were already on site awaiting installation after the removal of the old ones. It is to be hoped that a better job is done here.