Nothing until near collapse

IT IS now easy to understand why canals are being closed week after week for repairs if CaRT have a system where it does nothing until it is near collapse on its A to E system, writes Jim Cracken.

As Jimmy Lockwood clearly points out nothing is done until anything reaches a D state, and by the time the to and throwing between CaRT and contractors is finished, all heaping the money up, the fault reaches E, and then the canal has to be closed for the lock then become inoperable.

The whole system of A to D is admitting defeat and that maintenance has virtually come to a standstill. But then insult is added to injury by leaving the job to contractors.

Contractors worst

Contractors are the worst possible thing as far as waterways are concerned, for how many contracting firms can know about canal locks and their design?  None I should imagine, which could be the reason they are now so difficult to operate, and for which we can thank the former boss Evans. And which the new boss should do something about, by getting rid of contractors, except possibly for cutting grass, that anyone can do, and increasing its own workforce who with experience alone, together with the few still left, can soon master the intricacies of locks, and so once again have them working properly.

Twice now I have been prevented from continuing an arranged cruise, once coming back in a rush to get back to work and another then having to leave my boat by the side of the towpath until I could get it back about a fortnight later, to find a notice on it stating I was overstaying! Plus the frustration of having three brass fittings stolen.

Little wonder so many boaters are leaving the waterways with this state of affairs, and I hate to think what it will be like in say five years time, but I certainly won't be here to tell.