Vandals get the blame

THE shortage of water on the Trent & Mersey Canal has closed Stoke locks overnight.

It was is early September that Canal & River Trust advised that there was a shortage of water from Harecastle to Middlewich, which has become worse, so Stoke locks from 36 to 40 are closed overnight from Sunday, Keith Gudgin reports.

Five locks closed

Those five locks will be closed from 6pm until 8am daily until further notice the trust inform boaters, adding 'This is due to vandalism of lock gates and loss of water'. 

But a regular contributor coming through the locks yesterday afternoon tells us there is no sign of any lock gate damage,  Also, the trust did not state which particular lock was 'damaged'.