THE coroner's report into the death of narrowboater Allan Green whose boat was stuck in a lock gate is that it was an accident.
Seeing his boat trapped in the gate and sinking, Allan Green climbed down the lock ladder of Lock 5 on the Droitwich Canal to retrieve his mother's handbag which contained medication and money for a new boat an inquest into his death held at County Hall in Worcester heard yesterday, Alan Tilbury tells us.
Dead at the scene
The 49 years old who lived on his narrowboat Sonskit in Droitwich, was declared dead at the scene on the 25th July following the incident between 11.15am and 11.30am.
The boat became pinched by its rudder between the two bottom gates of the lock as the paddles were opened, flooding the boat, that then sank.
At the inquest it was stated that the accident could have been prevented had the narrowboat been fitted with a fender, which it was not.