It's the 'blame game' yet again

YET another instance where Canal & River Trust are blaming others for its inadequacies—this time at the lock at Sutton Stop.

In its stoppage notice it clearly tells us that 'vandalism' has caused the closure at Hawkesbury Lock at the junction of the Oxford Canal with the Coventry Canal, but this is yet another cover up.

Protruding bolt

It was actually a protruding bolt that caught an elderly couple's boat as it passed through, that then inadvertently pulled off some woodwork at one end of the lock gate.

As John Wallace tells us there was no 'vandalism', and asks:

"Or is this the latest euphemism for 'failure due to poor maintenance'? We have heard that the lock could be closed for as long as three days partly because CaRT staff have gone off to make some stop planks! Unbelievable except where CRT are concerned.