A load of bollards help me out

Last month I was moaning about the additional lockside bollards being installed all over the narrow canal network. What an irritating move, I said. 

(See What a load of bollards.  Several people dittoed.)

I asked BW:"Who took this decision, and why?"

The answer:

The installation of the bollards is part of BW’s minimum safety standards – three holding points in all locks. 

The reasoning behind the standard is to get consistent provision of facilities at locks and to accommodate a wide range of boats. 

We’re not just talking about powered narrowboats – there’s horse boats, unpowered BW work flats, larger canoes …

There are many instances where narrow locks still have the original bollards/strapping posts.  So, as I understand it, we’re not reinventing history by their installation.

The man in the hot seat [i.e. the one who took the decision to install them] is Jim Stirling, BW's Technical Director.

Going up the Aylesbury Arm locks on Sunday, single-handed, I have to say I made use of the middle bollards on some of the locks - and did find them useful one or two times. 

And only tripped over them a couple of times.

So I'm eating humble pie, a small portion.

Of course, whether the cost of putting in these  extra bollards can be justified in these cash-strapped times is another matter.  But as a single-handed boater I confirm did find them useful on the Aylesbury Arm last weekend.

BW also sent me some photos of lock ladders bent by boaters who insist on tying up to them because there's no bollard in the middle - even where they didn't really need to. 

Fair enough.  There are a lot of beginners about.

But I don't recall any discussion about it.  And I wish these waterways-wide decisions were more open.  In this particular case, there are lots of people bitching, but until I pressed BW, I never heard the reason for the decision they were bitching about.

But in this case, I'm eating humble pie, because on a couple of occasions last weekend this decision made sense, and helped me out.

One last point: I've consistently called them 'bollards', but the BW press office mentions 'strapping posts'.  As I understand it, strapping posts are the big tree-trunks at the ends of each lock (still common on the Grand Union, incidentally) not the bonsai metal nodules currently being fitted.  Can someone give me chapter/verse?

Comments

[Halfie]

Peter Lee - your link doesn't work as it stands (but copying and pasting, then removing the full stop at the end does the trick) Or just click this:
http://www.canaljunction.com/news/info26.htm

[Carrie]

I went up the Wolverhampton 21 and the bollards seemed to be on the 'wrong' side for a single-hander. Ah, I thought, I expect I'll use them on the way down. Coming down a couple of days later, they were all on the 'wrong' side again! Think that probably says more about me than the bollards!

[Martin]

Andrew,
Did you see this:
http://nzgypsyrover.blogspot.com/2008/09/rope-lengths-on-llangollen-canal.html#links

[Paul]

Speaking to the crew of a pair of hotel boats (motor and butty) whilst on the Southern Oxford, they said that the hotel boat association was against the installation of bollards, even though it would make their job easier when locking the butty through.

[Peter Lee]

Have a look at this http://www.canaljunction.com/news/info26.htm. It gives pretty much chapter and verse on strapping posts.

[Nic Chilton]

I'm sure it's not just beginners who tie up to lock ladders? Sure, if you correctly operate the lock slowly, the boat will gently rise (emptying a lock doesn't create the same eddies), but I've seen boat crews wanting to go through fast, and so tie up to allow them to open the paddles faster. A single central bollard makes more sense than three in a narrow lock.

[Sarah]

Bollards might well be useful, but not square lumps of wood. Interesting that they're calling them strapping posts; is that really what they want people to use them for? And aren't they in the wrong place for that? Is it a case of they thought extra bollards were required but couldn't/wouldn't afford proper cast iron ones, so used lumps of wood instead thus increasing rather than decreasing the dangers?