Why not admit mistakes?
What is it with CaRT management that they cannot be seen to be human and admit mistakes? Writes Keith Gudgin.
No, they just seem to like to make themselves a laughing stock every time they make an excuse.
Blame others
Whenever anything goes wrong they try to blame boaters or vandals or the age of the system or anything else that comes to hand as long as it doesn't appear to reflect adversely upon themselves.
I still remember them trying to blame vandals, among other things, for opening the gates that let the water rush down and wash away the bank on the Shroppie Middlewich branch causing it to breach! And the lame excuses for the failure of Toddbrook Reservoir doesn't even bear thinking about!
Unfortunately they invariable get found out as there are many eyes and many, far better qualified engineers etc. than they are, that see right through the excuses.
Inadequate equipment
When the gate fell off at Lock 2 on the Atherstone Flight it was witnessed by many people who were watching. They saw the engineers drop it as they were trying to fix it with inadequate equipment.
Within hours, CaRT management had issued a Press Release blaming vandals for the gate falling! They intimated that the pins that hold the collar in place had been removed and this had resulted in the collar coming off and the gate falling in the lock.
So are CaRT now admitting that they accept shoddy workmanship? When those pins or wedges are placed in the collar they are bent over to prevent premature removal. If these particular pins were easily removed by vandals then they could not have been bent over properly could they?
Vandals not to blame
It now transpires that vandals were not to blame. We apparently have witnesses to the fact that it was CaRT's appointed engineers who dropped the gate not having enough equipment!
CaRT are now going pay in the region of £1,000 for a crane to raise the gate. Mobile cranes don't come cheap and a long reach one is even more expensive. Plus the cost of a survey to determine if the ground near the houses is strong enough to take the weight.
A couple of engineers who know what they are doing, with an 'A' frame and some chains and winches would have that gate back in place in couple of hours and at far less cost than hiring a long reach mobile crane!
Nine days to do a two hours job
Nine plus days to do a job that should take a couple of hours at a fantastically inflated cost is no way to run any kind of business let alone a charity! This is proving to be a public relations disaster for CaRT in more ways than one!
Boat owners, hirers and traders all held up for well over a week because CaRT haven't got the required basic tools. They have plenty of fencing if the pictures are anything go by but nothing to do the actual job with it seems?
Blaming policy backfires
When are CaRT managers going to stop treating the public as if they are all stupid? This blaming others policy always backfires and just shows where the real responsibility lies.