Cast adrift at Laleham Wharf

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Mike M

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Sad to say that whilst on an overnight stop at Laleham Wharf on Friday the 15 October I was woken from my sleep at about midnight by feeling someone on my boat. Me and my wife jumped out of bed and our movement was enough to scare off the culprits. However when looking out of the boat I saw that they had cast our neighbour, a Le Boat hire cruiser adrift.
I called out to the occupants who by now were in the middle of the river and woke them and fortunately they were able to control the boat and return to the mooring with no harm done. The hire boat then moored up following my example of securing through the mooring rings and back to finish on the boat.
The culprits obviously did not know how dangerous this is, the boat could have ended up on a weir or with it's ropes that had been thown in wrapped around the prop.
:mad:
 
Sorry to hear that. Did either of you report the incident to the police? I know we all feel it won't do any good but the EA are keen that we do as otherwise the police say there is little crime on the river ! Also worth asking the lockies to make a report/note.

I have recently bought a plastic encased wire strop and padlock from Halfords - my thinking is that used to secure the boat to a mooring point midships it will probably be more secure than dropping the anchor which just piles up on the bottom.
 
Mike

That must of really shaken you both, What scumbags they need stringing up grrrr. Poor folks on the hire boat were lucky you managed to wake them. Is it common on that stetch? I know there have been a few issues at windsor by the tea hut.

Chill aka Speedy
 
Sorry to hear about your terrible experience. That's normally a nice quiet spot, not where iw old expect any trouble like that as it's not really on the way to or from any drinking establishments where you would expect oils like that...
 
Out of curiosity where there any other hire boats moored nearby? I have been on stag weekends (on the broads and the Oxford Canal) where the first duty of the evening was to cast the other stags adrift (not condoning it, merely mentioning it)

As for reporting the incident to the EA; worth a try, but I struggled when my tender was stolen from a friend's garden. Teddington_Lock of this parish sagely suggested doing this, but I gave up after a few phonecalls, no-one seemed to know or care how to categorise "theft" - some said it was "an incident", others not. I am actually waiting for the duty manager to call back, I have been waiting for some weeks now but am not holding my breath...
 
Sad to say, it happens in France too. Although after 3 years and x thousand kilometres, never to us, or at a quayside we were at. Overwhelmingly, people are friendly and moorings are very safe - just the minute minority who spoil things - usually on a Friday night or when the Fair's in town. Fairly standard practice to use a chain and padlock on town public quaysides, although most of the time completely unnecessary.
w-10-clairac.jpg

Clairac, River Lot, Aquitaine
 
I did not report it to EA as I had to return to Chertsey as I managed to put my back out jumping out of bed to try and get at them, and believe it or not Chertsey was unmanned! on a Saturday what a suprise!
Having visited the chiropractioner on Monday I hope to be back out this weekend, when hopefully I will get a full weekend out plus find a lock-keeper to report it to.
I usually use a bowden cable and padlock or my anchor myself but on this occasion having stayed there before with no problems I didn't use it, how trusting I was. The thing is had I caught them I would be writing this from a police cell as me throwing them in would have been classed as assault and not have been classed as a high spirited prank like just casting a boat adrift by a teenager would have.
 
rr_123 said:
Out of curiosity where there any other hire boats moored nearby? I have been on stag weekends (on the broads and the Oxford Canal) where the first duty of the evening was to cast the other stags adrift (not condoning it, merely mentioning it)

As for reporting the incident to the EA; worth a try, but I struggled when my tender was stolen from a friend's garden. Teddington_Lock of this parish sagely suggested doing this, but I gave up after a few phonecalls, no-one seemed to know or care how to categorise "theft" - some said it was "an incident", others not. I am actually waiting for the duty manager to call back, I have been waiting for some weeks now but am not holding my breath...
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Rang craft licencing direct (again, recommendation from Teddington_Lock) and they took down the details, emailed back confirmed the licence/reg id (for the police) and have advised Shepperton.
 
No other boats, just the hire boat and myself, so we can't blame a stag party, and it was a couple in their 30-40s on the other boat. I only hope it didn't spoil their holiday. The only pub nearby is The Horseshoes in the village but the towpath is well used. The voices/laughter we heard sounded very young and the actions were really childish infact infantile is a better discription. To do a thing like this you have to be mentally challenged.
 
Staines Massive...

Mike M said:
No other boats, just the hire boat and myself, so we can't blame a stag party, and it was a couple in their 30-40s on the other boat. I only hope it didn't spoil their holiday. The only pub nearby is The Horseshoes in the village but the towpath is well used. The voices/laughter we heard sounded very young and the actions were really childish infact infantile is a better discription. To do a thing like this you have to be mentally challenged.
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Clearly been chased out the town centre....
 
Dont forget the Turks Head & The Feathers. Living in Laleham I think the perpetrators had not emerged from the local pubs but had come from Staines. None of the locals has a great youth scene, all of the pubs having a much older customer base and are not known for trouble.
 
Mike M said:
(snip)The thing is had I caught them I would be writing this from a police cell as me throwing them in would have been classed as assault and not have been classed as a high spirited prank like just casting a boat adrift by a teenager would have.
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Oh, I'm sure YOU wouldn't have thrown them in. But I could imagine that having had a few drinks they could easily have fallen in after taking a swing at you when you admonished them for being naughty.:rolleyes:

I also guess you may have had more independant & reliable witnesses to this than they would have to your "alleged" actions. :D
 
You cannot "take the law into your own hands." March 10th 1980 I caught 3 yobs trying to remove the mascot off my car. I shouted at them, they approached me "menacingly" giving me verbal. Long story short, two ended in hospital one ran away. I was fined £800 and the ridiculous statement from the Beak that I should have gone and got a Policeman. Yeh! right! 2am in a multi storey car park.
 
Who would want the mascot off a 1981 Lada though?

LOL....you should have run faster and caught the third one Byron!
 
byron said:
You cannot "take the law into your own hands." March 10th 1980 I caught 3 yobs trying to remove the mascot off my car. I shouted at them, they approached me "menacingly" giving me verbal. Long story short, two ended in hospital one ran away. I was fined £800 and the ridiculous statement from the Beak that I should have gone and got a Policeman. Yeh! right! 2am in a multi storey car park.
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I'm really sorry this happened to you Bryon similar thing happened to a good friend of mine. This country is beyond a joke the Police are inept at protecting us so let us protect ourselves. It’s a bit like CCTV its only used to identify a suspect they don't actually use at as live system to stop crimes in progress.

Sorry to go off on a mini rant but I'm sick of tired of people who go out and work hard to have a few luxuries in their lives and some thieving little sh*t comes along and we are supposed to stand there and do nothing !!!!!!!!!
I don't think so thats why we have mag lights ;)
 
Hi Mike,

Yes, my wife and I sufferred the same event on the field mooring at Pangbourne (just before Whitchurch lock). I very nearly caught them, but the one thing youngsters can do reliably is run !!

This particular night the winds were atrocious to say the least and it was raining. I found it really unnerving and stayed 'on watch' all night. Hence it took me a couple of days to recoup the sleep.

They do see the danger but they simply dont care,

Ivor D.
 
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