Black Country canals used as litter bins

BOATERS are complaining that the litter in the canals around Birmingham is worse than it has ever been.

There seems to be no attempt to clean it up.

Use as local dump

It seems the canals around the city are used as the local dump with all manner of litter that boaters claim is catching their boat's propellers, with Jill Farthing telling she pulled into the side of the Main Line to moor and found an electric radiator stopping her from pulling in.

Daisy Hampshire, who operates a café from her narrowboat, told BBC News that rubbish she has seen in the area recently includes fridges, sofas, and 'thousands' of single-use bottles and cans, adding:

"It would be easy to blame the Canal & River Trust, but it's not just them that's at fault.

"It's everyone that has dumped rubbish in a canal, it's boaters that feel it's okay to leave their rubbish anywhere."

Gates would not close

Greg Downs told us of his experience whilst cruising from Wolverhampton to Birmingham on the 'older canal' that anywhere near property you get rubbish of all kinds and had problems with all those three locks with rubbish behind gates that would not allow their gates to close properly.

Another boater, A Phillips, told us that no one is doing anything about the rubbish that is accumulating in the canals nowadays, with Canal & River Trust's only concern being if it affects their precious wildlife.