Canal & River Trust goes mad with coronavirus signs

Published: Friday, 10 April 2020

THE Canal & River Trust has gone mad with the number of coronavirus signs it is producing, keeping its staff hectic in posting them up then replacing them with new ones as it changes its mind.

CartCoronavirusNotice

 

First of all there was the over complicated one full of its usual bumf that told it was 'Supporting the national effort to keep people safe' and for visitors to its towpaths to 'avoid any stretches with boats moored against the towpath".

RegentsCanalSunday

Then came the above photograph published throughout the country showing hordes of people walking, jogging, cycling and pushing wheelchairs past moored boats on the Regents Canal towpath last week-end, with absolutley no attempt at social distancing as can be seen.  Clearly showing that the Trust's notice had had the opposite effect, bringing out more people than ever onto its towpaths, with newspapers and their websites publishing articles and pictures of other such crowded towpaths.

LimitTowpathUse This caused the Trust to hastily bring out another notice, above, with just the simple message to 'Limit your use of canal towpaths' and 'Stay Home Save Lives,' that alas had little effect as more and more publications showed people taking to the narrow towpaths and spreading coronavirus.

No 'Stay at Home instruction'

TowpathsLocal OnlyBut now comes a third notice, as shown, still extolling the towpaths but stating they are for 'local use only', but alas no intimation how they will be patrolled, with neither of the two latter notices asking for people to keep clear of moored boats, and the last one giving up the 'stay at home' instruction altogether.

All in all it would seem that Canal & River Trust just does not know what to do, and its indecision has spread to its instructions to continuous cruisers.

Stay-put but move

They have received a notice stating that they are to stay-put until the 14th of this month, then it changes its mind and tells them to stay-put until the 18th, with no reason for the four days.  The Trust tells them they cannot move, then at another time they are told to move all together!

In its Press Release today (Friday) Canal & River Trust both tells people to take care on its towpaths and to stay at home—a complete contradiction, that can only still further spread coronavirus.

Does this seem like an organisation in control?  One continuous cruiser told us it was like someone unable to organise something or other in a brewery...