Unofficial dredger gets in scrap with BW and EA

Tuesday 8th July 2008

Worsley to Dover Lock Inn for lunch

it rained

After the fun and games replacing the split charge relay at Bridgewater Marina we carried on to the end of the Bridgewater Canal at Leigh. We watered up, and continued on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (Leigh Branch) to Dover Locks. Here used to be two locks before they were "moved" to Wigan to counter mining subsidence.


As we approached Dover Bridge we saw a man repeatedly casting a grappling iron into the bridge hole. He stopped to let us pass, and we saw on the bank what he'd been dragging out: an astonishing pile of old bicycles. We tied up just after the bridge by the Dover Lock Inn and ordered food. While that was being prepared I went back to talk to the man, who told me that he was removing the scrap in order to sell it. What he was doing isn't sanctioned by BW: indeed it is strongly discouraged, despite his claim that he was doing BW a favour, as it didn't do any dredging any more. He was working his way up the canal, putting his haul in his van as he went. The Environment Agency also frowns on his activities: apparently resting the bikes on the bank before putting them in his van is littering. He told me that his record for one bridge was 40 bikes. Forty? How do forty bikes chucked in at random not form a mountain above water level?


He's pulled at least six bikes from one side of this bridgehole, so I suppose it's just possible. He gets £200 for each van load of dredged scrap.