ALL too often vandals are being blamed for stoppages, that are clearly not caused by vandals.
On Monday a stoppage was caused at Lock 5W on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal with vandals blamed, Keith Gudgin reports.
Broken gate collar
The stoppage was due to a broken gate collar, yet how can anyone break such a strong steel collar that holds a gate in place?
Not only broken but detached from the heel post, with the usual 'method of repair' being organised.
It was vandals blamed for the failed Wood End Lift Bridge on the Peak Forest yet it was the structure that failed that needed a crane, and no way could vandals even reach it.
Disguise the real culprit
Time and time again vandals are being blamed for stoppages, to obviously disguise the real culprit of no maintenance, and strangely it's mostly the Northwest and Northeast teams that are responsible for such misinformation.