More on policing the Thames

[mlines]

I keep my boat on its trailer. I drop it into the water where ever it takes my fancy so one day it might be Poole, the next day the Thames. The main "licence" it holds is a Poole Harbour annual permit as this is where it goes most often.

So when I drop it in at Wargrave (my nearest lauch point) it would be Marsh Lock or Shiplake and when we drop it in at Windsor then it is the locks upstream/downstream of there.

When I meant surprised I meant that although they know the procedure they seems almost surprised that someone is paying and have to hunt around for the book, the "stickers" and change for me. I guess they have fewer day visitors "dropping" into the Thames at random. The visitor probably normally come from adjoining waterways so the locks there get all the trade. Also I have been doing this over the summer so I guess it is not necessarily the lock keeper, perhaps a deputy or the summer assistant.




Martin

 

[Gumpy]

This boat followed me up river towards Windsor about 3 weeks back. Man, Woman, and White dog. Interesting adaptation of the front cabin to include a wood burning stove! He had it piled high on the aft cabin.
At every lock the skipper was interrogated by the lock keepers as he wasn't displaying a license. He had to get a piece of paper signed by each lockie. Not sure what it was.

If its who I think it is:
Tall skinny bloke, ex forces I think, petite partner he swears a lot and talks to her like dirt.
Now for the alleged bit:
Allegedly they are responsible for some break-ins up the GU, no proof but the boat was seen in the area every time there was a break-in, most were boats done from the water side rather than the tow-path and one would have required a very small person to gain access through the window however this could be a coincidence.

 

[teddington_lock]

I guess they have fewer day visitors "dropping" into the Thames at random. The visitor probably normally come from adjoining waterways so the locks there get all the trade. Also I have been doing this over the summer so I guess it is not necessarily the lock keeper, perhaps a deputy or the summer assistant.

Martin

At Teddington we sell thousands of visitors licences a year , somewhere like Old Windsor lock for example may sell less than ten a year ( due to a lack of launching points in the reach above and below the lock ) ... the 'gateway' locks do tend to sell the most for obvious reasons.

We do get a fair amount of day visitors , how many each lock gets depends on the accessability ( launching points ) on the reach above and below the lock , a lot of people who slip their boat may not either have the confidence or even want to come through a lock , and if we don't see them at a lock , we can't sell them a licence. You would like to think that they would have bought a visitors licence from Reading before they launched

If it was a relief lock keeper , then i could understand them looking for the paperwork / change as these guys cover 15+ locks , all of which have different office layouts and things kept in different places. I remember when i was a relief , trying to keep track of where everything was at each lock was a challenge.

H

 

[sturmvogel190a]

Spent the day afloat fishing today a few pics

Caught a load of Pike but it got a bit smokey late afternoon........... Steve.

 

[rr_123]

I've just noticed...

I've just notice that my initial contribution to this thread when the "new neighbours" turned up just above Penton Hook was made just shy of 48 hours after Bulto's post regarding the ultra heavy evaporation of his fuel (here)

This is at best circumstantial

Quite a coincidence though...

R

 

[bulto]

I hope they used it in their outboard