ABANDONED BOATS ON THE Erewash Canal have been removed by the Canal & River Trust.
Boats have been removed from the canal as they were becoming a danger to the public, Janet Friend reports.
Altogether five boats have been removed over the past months, with two of them shown in the trust's image.
A danger
It was its volunteers who realised the boats were a danger, particularly to children, who had been seen climbing over and playing in them, they told.
And the boats were known to have drifted out into the channel causing an obstruction to those cruising the waterway.
But now, all the boats have been cleared from the canal, either being taken away by lorry or towed into a nearby marina, making is easier for the passage of other boaters, and it is told that the final two were in such a state that air bags had to be used to float them to get them off the canal.
This was as the boats were in such a poor state that they had to be refloated with inflatable bags and towed away.