Fradley Swing Bridge should be secured

I AM amazed that parents drinking in the pub seem to have little understanding of what their kids can get up to at the weekends and amazed that other parents could just sit idly by and watch as the performance took place, writes Mick Fitzgibbons.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon at Fradley Junction and moored up just below the water point on the Coventry Canal. I spotted four young kids messing around with the swing bridge. The bridge is unlocked and surprisingly light to open and close.

Used as a toy

The problem was that the kids were using the bridge as a toy to play on. Opening and closing it with as much force as they could muster, the intention being to trying to knock each other into the water. But this was also going on as boats tried to manoeuvre through the gap.

A child falling down and hitting their head on the metalwork or falling into the canal was lost upon everyone. Memories of the girl that was seriously injured and lost limbs in similar circumstances came to mind. I sent them packing on their way but moments later they were back on the bridge again.

Locking system

I can only imagine that on returning to their parents in the nearby pub they were told to go back an play on the bridge again. This bridge urgently requires the use of a locking system before some child or passing boater gets hurt by their antics.