That's been getting worse for years. (Part of it is even stuffed with tyres
below the metal.) We passed (last Autumn) just after a large chunk of bank -
fenced off some time before - had gone in the canal and as we passed BW were
fencing off the towpath. (Placing the no entry notice on the wrong side of the
cut at one place as there is a turnover bridge between the locks!) I pointed
out to the multi BW men that this fall in had been developing for years to be
told by the supervisor that it was nothing to do with him as he didn't do the
piling - having joined the firm 7 years before. After putting up the tape the
squad climbed into two very nice vans and left.
At the lock below Etruria on the same section there is a permanent notice
informing crews that the lock has bad leaks - and they are bad!
Down in Stone the wife came across to BW erks wandering about doing bugger
all. They were 'checking' so she pointed out to large holes in a gate and
suggested they note them as being in need of fixing before they got worse. They
(obviously mental giants with total recall and no need of pen and paper) told
her fixing was not theirs to report as they followed orders and all repairs are
planned years in advance and there's no money to fix things just cause they're
wrong. The wife was unimpressed and wondered what they were checking.
We did meet one impressive worker on the section but he had been lent from
elsewhere else as this lot were overworked. He was rushing around putting up
notices - his job made more difficult as he had a van and a road map and had to
spread the stoppage notices over about 10 miles of locks - when he could find
them. (He didn't know this canal at all he told us but as we travelled on we
kept coming across notices implying his zeal!)
ve Wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Adrian Stott wrote:
> The practice of tying to the bank protection worries me. It isn't
> designed to take the strains involved. I'm not surprised you found
> quite a lot of it to be "bent and battered". After the time it takes
> to get BW to install the stuff, I hate to see it being pulled loose so
> soon.
People may have noticed the problems at Meaford on the T&M where the
edge between the two middle locks has been closed off with the
ubiquitous orange netting after the pilings had moved quite a way.
Apparently the problem was caused by the pilings not having been put in
deeply enough. The flow of water down that pound is very fast when the
lock is emptied and the movement of boats tied up had started to pull
the pilings out of the ground. The solution is apparently going to be to
drive in new 3m long pilings.
Steve
NB Bream
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