Boater caused Meadow Lane Lock vandalism

THOUGH Canal & River Trust understood it was vandals who caused the damage to Meadow Lane Lock, it was not.

The significant collapse of the lock wall was not caused by vandals using implements to dislodge heavy coping stones, the damage was caused by a boater, he states.

This particular boater had need to gain access, for whatever reason, to the bottom of his boat, using the lock to do so. This meant securely tying the boat to the bollards whereby the boat would 'hang' above the water line as water was released from the lock.

Weight proved too much

In theory, a procedure that could be successful but in practice the weight of the hanging boat proved to be too much for the wall of the lock and the result of the boaters stupidity is shown in the photograph.

It is not known if access to the bottom of the boat was achieved prior to the collapse of the lock wall so it cannot be ascertained if this form of dry docking was successful or not.

LATEST:

The maintenance team are now on site, but the the structural engineer estimates the repair work will take approximately two weeks.  This means there will be no access to or from the Trent at Nottinghm until Friday 28th August.