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Attack in Reading


Tony Brooks

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Today, the Reading Chronicle have published an article about an attack on a boater nr. Fobney lock in Reading on the K&A. They seemed to imply this was an isolated incident until I reported ongoing problems at Fobney during the summer months, having suffered a similar, but less bloody, attack in the past.

 

They say that both the Police and BW have no records of problems in this area when I know I reported my incident to BW.

 

Might I ask anyone who has suffered any form of attack, threatening behaviour, or just being made to feel uneasy around Reading's waterways to email mobrien@berksmedia.co.uk so they can see this is not an isolated incident.

 

Many thanks to anyone who sends an email.

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The area around Fobney seems very popular with young sporting gentlemen who eschew helmets or number-plates while astride their motorised bicycling machines. And splendid young chaps they are, refreshed with a pale continental brew and proudly displaying their decorative skin etchings. Unfortunately, navigational constraints have prevented my taking the time out to moor up and share their nocturnal automobile-fuelled campfire revelry!

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Would it not be better to report incidents to the police and/or BW? The media will only report what they want to report regardless of what evidence they are offered, and may well not want to run a story which may be perceived to be detrimental to local business (their advertisers).

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Would it not be better to report incidents to the police and/or BW? The media will only report what they want to report regardless of what evidence they are offered, and may well not want to run a story which may be perceived to be detrimental to local business (their advertisers).

 

Yes, if:-

 

1. The police will actually log it. IO had a terrible job getting a number out of Reading police when my boat was cast adrift just above a weir at night (Staffordshire police are just as bad!).

 

2. IF BW log the report and the admit to it. In this case I used the BW report system (for my incident) yet according to the paper BW deny any knowledge of problems here

 

In both cases it is far easier to make it look like an isolated incident than it is to address the problem. At this site there is already a Thames water CCTV system but its pointing the wrong way so I do not see it as difficult for BW & TW to cooperate to fit another CCTV camera. I suggested this to BW about three years ago but...............

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As soon as you contact the police by phone, the operator should, start a CAD record of the call, even if the incident is for information only and requires no deployment, an incident record should be created. You shoould ask for this incident or Cad number before you end the call. Its not a crime number just a record of your call

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As soon as you contact the police by phone, the operator should, start a CAD record of the call, even if the incident is for information only and requires no deployment, an incident record should be created. You shoould ask for this incident or Cad number before you end the call. Its not a crime number just a record of your call

 

 

Should!

 

At Reading I reported the casting adrift in person and had to ask for their maritime law expert before I got any sort of number.

 

Staffordshire police told me to wait by a phone box until an officer contacted me and no, they could not tell me how long it would take. It then took three letters to the chief constable before I got a number.

 

Sorry, but my experience is that they will try to do or say anything to avoid recording incidents.

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Should!

 

At Reading I reported the casting adrift in person and had to ask for their maritime law expert before I got any sort of number.

 

Staffordshire police told me to wait by a phone box until an officer contacted me and no, they could not tell me how long it would take. It then took three letters to the chief constable before I got a number.

 

Sorry, but my experience is that they will try to do or say anything to avoid recording incidents.

 

 

Thats why i said "Should".

 

 

Dont end the call untill you get an incident number

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Sadly, Reading is one of those places best avoided - if we have to pass through, we try to do so in the morning while the louts are still in bed.

That is sad. We moor in Reading regulary. We have a house there. It is only Fobney lock that is a problem and we, like you, go through in the morning. By Tesco and the prison are fine. Homebase has cctv from the Pru covering it. There is a Theatre and a good shopping centre.

Maybe a letter to the chamber of comerce or whatever the org is may bring results.

Sue

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Should!

 

At Reading I reported the casting adrift in person and had to ask for their maritime law expert before I got any sort of number.

 

Staffordshire police told me to wait by a phone box until an officer contacted me and no, they could not tell me how long it would take. It then took three letters to the chief constable before I got a number.

 

Sorry, but my experience is that they will try to do or say anything to avoid recording incidents.

Trouble is they have put so much effort in to keeping the town centres clear of yobs, the last thing they want to do is police the vary areas the CCTV has pushed the yobs out to. They are "out of the way" on the cut.
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Fobney is the second BW lock going upstream. first there is County actually in Reading and then Fobney.

 

 

Just to clarify, although Fobney Lock is the 2nd BW lock it's actually the third lock you encounter going upstream. The first lock is Blakes Lock about 500 yds upstream from Kennet mouth but this is an EA lock run as a Thames lock. The second lock is County Lock and notable for being only about a foot deep. The third lock is Fobney Lock and this is the one with the trouble.

 

Fobney Lock is close to the very roughest parts of Reading and yet very secluded. There is a track to the lock which often has bazzed-up Saxos and Novas racing up and down it, and youths congregate to swim in the lock or just hang around. It can be very intimidating when you arrive there to find 20 teenagers sitting on the balance beams, jumping in the lock, drinking and generally being loutish. You instantly become the centre of attention. We generally find them fairly benign however and they are usually keen to help work the lock if you let them. It can get difficult if they start demanding alcohol (if they saw us drinking), rides on the boat or a look around inside. Best to arrive at the lock with alcohol concealed, all glasses/empties cleared away and the front and side doors closed and locked.

 

The lock is widely known for being a trouble spot. Ask any local boater (or any serious fisherman probably too). I've definitely seen a warning about Fobney being a trouble spot in a published K&A guide. I though it was Nicholsons Guide 7 Thames and the Southern Waterways but I've just checked my 2009 edition and I'm surprised to see it says nothing. I have a much older edition somewhere (probably 2003) but I can't find it now, it's probably in the boat. The comment may be in there. I'll check next time I go to the boat.

 

Cheers, Mike

Edited by mike bryant
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Would it not be better to report incidents to the police and/or BW? The media will only report what they want to report regardless of what evidence they are offered, and may well not want to run a story which may be perceived to be detrimental to local business (their advertisers).

Change the record, this one's stuck. I remember writing stories about trouble in Fobney Lock in Canal Boat back in about 1999. Believe it or not, we didn't ask what the advertisers thought.

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Change the record, this one's stuck. I remember writing stories about trouble in Fobney Lock in Canal Boat back in about 1999. Believe it or not, we didn't ask what the advertisers thought.

Only because the New Boat Co/Steve Harral/Whilton didn't have a chocolate and strawberry outlet there.

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Er, hate to tell you, but the New Boat Co do have an outlet in Reading.

At the Thames and Kennett marina on the River Thames, correct. Some considerable cruising distance and a different world from Fobney Lock on the River Kennet.

 

Good to see that you're sensitive to the criticism that you serve advertisers better than you do your readers, and noted that as I write Kevin Blick of Canal Boat is logged in to this topic too.

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At the Thames and Kennett marina on the River Thames, correct. Some considerable cruising distance and a different world from Fobney Lock on the River Kennet.

 

Good to see that you're sensitive to the criticism that you serve advertisers better than you do your readers, and noted that as I write Kevin Blick of Canal Boat is logged in to this topic too.

 

I think you have an exaggerated idea of your own importance. I'm following the thread because Tony Brooks, a gentleman I know and respect, reported that he was assaulted at the lock which I was upset to hear. Your anti-media paranoia is simply tiresome and irrelevant.

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I think you have an exaggerated idea of your own importance. I'm following the thread because Tony Brooks, a gentleman I know and respect, reported that he was assaulted at the lock which I was upset to hear. Your anti-media paranoia is simply tiresome and irrelevant.

Oh dear, Kevin. I simply made the factual observation that that you were logged in and looking at this topic as I posted my response. I respect Tony Brooks too by the way. I'm not anti-media or paranoid, just observant of the fact that the waterways' press is not objective and is in the thrall of its advertisers much more than it is interested in providing its readers with informed objective views. Do tell us if your incisive journalism, for instance, will inform Canal Boat's readers as to how many orders for new boats have emerged as result of the Crick Show.

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I'm sensitive to any unfounded criticism. Though I suspect you're neither an advertiser nor a reader. :lol:

Good Lord. Where does that leave you with founded criticism?

 

I am a reader. Not every month, but for many years. As Warrior Woman stated, reflecting on some issues from the 1980s she acquired, you have become less critical. Far less critical. Of all the publications devoted to the British waterways, yours is the best in my view. But it doesn't serve the readership well. It does smack of pandering to the major advertisers. You can reply, "bullshit". But you know this to be true.

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Sorry to hear that Tony has had a bad experience at Fobney, and also that the Police/BW were unhelpful, to say the least.

 

We have been moored on the K&A for three years, have been through Fobney Lock many times, and have encountered no problems of any kind whatsoever.

 

I am not disputing the fact that boaters have had problems there, and forearmed is forewarned - I am just saying that we need to keep things in perspective, so that boaters are not discouraged from visiting Reading and the K&A.

 

 

Jo.

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Reading is absolutely fine - this just happens to be one very small area where oiks hang out. It if fine to pass through, just not a great place to overnight.

 

Incidentally, I always called that lock 'Waterworks', I only came across the name Fobney in recent years. It is the one where a side spill weir pours over the landing platform when the river is up. You have to leg it along the railings to avoid wet feet.

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