Your reader asks 'why blame CaRT' for the litter that is spread along the [BCN] Main Line. I do blame CaRT.
It is not the throwing down of litter by the litter-louts, as that is indicative of city dwellers and is the same the country over, I blame CaRT for not having the staff to at least make some semblance of clearing it up, for it was cleaned-up in years gone past when it had the staff patrolling its waterways. In my opinion James Henry hit the nail firmly on the head when he wrote there had been a decline in the state of the waterways, both by the lack of litter picking and their general neglect over the years.
He correctly pointed out that there are now no real people anymore looking after the waterways, just volunteers, and being winter they do not want to turn out. But undoubtedly the idea of free labour volunteers, enabling it to get rid of lock keepers and the like and save money was greeted with open arms, no one it seems having the gumption to realise that volunteers are a summer breed, and prefer the warmth of their fire-sides rather than the chill of a cold canal. And so the litter piles up.
Graham Felling