Key problems on the Droitwich

JUST to be fair—we came up through Vines Park on Monday and met someone who made the same claim. [Re keys not working on Droitwich Canal.] writes Mike Todd.

He was walking up to the marina to buy a new key. He said that he was not the person who contacted you. We, however, came through with no 'key' issues using one of our 10+ year old keys.

I wonder if something else is going on. Certainly when we went down a few days earlier there was a boat having difficulty with one of the padlocks but it was because they had not made sure that the bridge was sufficiently well closed (not easy!) to allow the hasp of the padlock to move.

The design is one in which a flat bar pushes through a slot in an upright steel post and the padlock secures the bridge through a hole in the bar. What tends to happen is that the bridge then relaxes a bit from fully close and jams the padlock against the post —if you see what I mean!