Boats marooned on Bridgewater Canal after breach

THE BREACH on the Bridgewater Canal on News Years' Day has left 27 boats stranded in the remaining mud of the navigation.

Boaters have been left in precarious positions after the water drained from the canal, Keith Gudgin reports.

Many of the boats are liveaboards and their owners are struggling to get food and fuel as they are stuck fast and of course unable to move and in bitterly cold weather with snow on the ground.

Left to their own devices

They are complaining that nothing is coming from the owners of the waterway, they are just being left to their own devices with Ann Drayton who shares with her partner telling:

"We pay to moor on the Bridgewater, but when anything untoward happens like this, we have no support whatsoever from the company. It seems we just have to grin and bear it, living in a boat that is listing so far everything has to be secured and is so hard to walk at an angle."

Many  of the boats in the shallows are listing with boaters complaining it is difficult to either prepare meals or sleep, but it is nearly two weeks since the bank gave way and nothing has been done.  There are also boats from other waterways that are unable to get back to their moorings.