When bandits attack.

[harve90]

That being said, a friend of mine who is a damn sight tougher than I am once left his wife driving the boat after he'd been stoned near Chester, ran back up onto the bridge, threw two of the lads into the canal and all of their bikes. Then told them he was a gangster from Liverpool and if he ever met them again... me, I go and hide.

 

Nice one.

 

Edited May 24, 2014 by harve90

[Hawkmoth]

Typical misrepresenting bullshit.

 

Yes they are a product of their environment but yes they should also be punished for what they do.

 

Just because some people believe that the society we live in produces these criminals does not mean that those people believe that these criminals should not be held responsible for their actions.

 

I also do not believe that punishing the individual is the solution to the bigger problem but I still think the individual should be punished.

Well said!

Bob

[paulstoke1975]

Had by far the most unpleasant experience of my boating career last night.

 

We spent yesterday boating from south of Barlaston on the T&M through Stoke and onto the Caldon. Around bridge 14 we seemed to have moved out into the country, it was getting late, and starting to rain hard, so we found a deep bank and moored up, just past the railway bridge. Big Mistake. We subsequently found out the that largest council estate in the country is just across the valley: described as "Feral" by a Staffordshire PC.

 

As it got dark, the attacks started: jumping in the back deck, followed by pulling the pins and throwing them in the canal, serious verbals. Feeling very insecure we phoned 999. It took a lot of effort to get the police control room to understand where we were. They don't do canals well. Then we started to be stoned: serious stoning with ballast from the railway line. No sign of the promised police. When the windows started to come in, it became obvious that we had to get the hell out, and fast. Not easy on a narrowboat. In the dark.

 

I started the engine and got on the back in a hail of stones and set off. The inevitable happened and I took a rock in the face. It hurt, but I had the presence of mind to ham up how much and bellowed like stuck bull. That seemed to work and they ran off. Either that or they couldn't be bothered to transport ammo from the railway as we got further away. In retrospect I should have pretended to be half killed _before_ I was hit, but you only think of these things later.

 

We made it in the dark to the offside pub moorings at The Foxley, where the police eventually found us. We got a few flash photos, but they're not good, and don't really ID the hoody-wearing scrotes.

 

Damage to me is bust glasses, bloody nose, contusions and a black eye. Damage to the boat is lost pins, broken windows and serious paint damage. Add two lost nights sleep - we didn't rest well last night - and a certain amount of peace-of-mind.

 

The lesson for boaters on the Caldon is not to stop anywhere before you get to Engine Lock. I'll be contacting CRT and suggesting that they make this advice available at Etruria.

 

I shall be starting The Campaign to Nuke Stoke-on-Trent.

 

If anyone is around later in the week and fancies riding shotgun when we have to head back that way, it would be much appreciated.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Bentilee is one if the biggest estates in the country however

If you were near the railway line heading towards the foxy you would of been opposite the abbey hulton estate,

 

Bentilee is a mile and half away,

 

I was looking at that stretch of canal today as a possible future mooring but now I'll forget it..

Edited May 24, 2014 by paulstoke1975

[Rufford]

I am sorry to hear about the OP's ordeal.

 

I must admit I have never had a problem in Stoke, and I even moored at Longport right in the city centre. Waking up to find a drug dealer standing on the tow path next to the front deck was about the high light.

 

Never ventured up the Caldon but I feel a trip coming on soon so.... :-)

[carlt]

so I'll leave it there.

As you have no evidence to support your accusations that's probably for the best.

[MoominPapa]

Thanks to all for your good wishes. We've moved up to the top of the locks at Stockton Brook and found a good mooring before the heavy rain sets in. Boating is good therapy. The bit past the lift bridges was challenging for depth, especially getting four boats past each other.

 

My face feels a bit like is did a few years back when it was assaulted by the airbag in a Peugeot 306, but it's not too bad. Having cleaned off the limestone dust and blood, even poor old Melaleua doesn't look so bad in the light of day.

 

On the scary might-have-beens: when I was hit by the stone, it knocked a lens out of the glasses I was wearing, or so I thought. Clearing up this morning we found a shard of the lens, which had shattered. This was a shatterproof plastic lens, so it must taken a lot of force. Don't accept glass lenses in spectacles, people.

 

The police did seem to have a inordinate amount of difficulty finding their way around. Even when we'd made it to the pub, told the landlord we were there and called the police and told them we were there and that the landlord knew, we still got a call 20 minutes later asking where we were, as the police had been to the pub and couldn't see us.

 

On the subject of rights and wrongs, it's important to remember that these people have absolutely zero status in the wider world, and they know it. The only place they can gain any status is in their "patch". So when some stranger wanders into that patch with a boat worth more money then they'll ever have, that really wrankles. How many times have you been asked "how much did it cost?" when talking to the local youth? It's all a bit tribal, really.

 

Cheers,

 

MP.

[carlt]

I find your complete intolerance of the views of others both defensive and offensive

As I was responding to you being disparaging of other people's views I would say that is somewhat hypocritical.

How many times have you been asked "how much did it cost?" when talking to the local youth?

Never.

 

I have been met with the question "You mean you actually paid money for that!!??" though, from both youths and boaters.

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

,,,Snip,,,

How many times have you been asked "how much did it cost?"

Cheers,

 

MP.

Loads of times, especially over the last few weeks !.

 

 

Ime so glad you're not to badly hurt MP.

Don't let it darken your views on boating.

[Bettie Boo]

I was shocked when I read the OP, never heard of things like this happening anywhere on the system, nor had it occurred to me that it would / could happen. Just simply naive I guess. Other than accidents; I thought the biggest dangers we all face were fast flowing water, and city location hazards such as break ins/theft and being cast adrift in the middle of the night

 

It is really quite concerning to hear of an attack occurring, on not only your boat, but on your person as well.

 

I do hope your insurance covers the damage to your boat & broken glasses and that you heal quickly and as painlessly as possible.

 

B~

[nine9feet]

Really sorry to hear about your ordeal, MP.

 

Seems I got off lightly a few weeks ago on the same stretch. Just one window broken, but a big one :-( (5ft). Cost ~£190 to fix, unfortunately less than my insurance excess. Done at Stone Cruising.

 

Never actually saw the culprits as I was down the weed hatch at the time.

[YamYam]

I was shocked when I read the OP, never heard of things like this happening anywhere on the system, nor had it occurred to me that it would / could happen. Just simply naive I guess. Other than accidents; I thought the biggest dangers we all face were fast flowing water, and city location hazards such as break ins/theft and being cast adrift in the middle of the night

 

It is really quite concerning to hear of an attack occurring, on not only your boat, but on your person as well.

 

I do hope your insurance covers the damage to your boat & broken glasses and that you heal quickly and as painlessly as possible.

 

B~

Seconded, but that brings us to the really unfair situation of losing the no claims discount through no fault of the OP.

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Added to which, as a final insult is MP has to end up Paying for the 'privilege' of being attacked, by putting right the damage caused, and suffering the pain caused !.

Exactly,

 

But what else can you do I suppose !.

[carlt]

Exactly,

 

But what else can you do I suppose !.

You're responding to your own posts Paul.

 

Put that Donut down!

[mark99]

I think it's the cider not the donuts.

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Oops, sorry. Trying to do to may things at once, Eat, Drink, Post. Obviously one had to suffer.

Got jam on my fingers now.

Edited May 24, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[stickleback]

Bits of Stoke are quite nasty I'm afraid. A lot of attitudes are fairly primitive - I've heard more aggressive & racist talk in pubs there than anywhere else for a while. As OP says, Engine Lock is the first safe place to moor, and very pretty it is too. Milton itself is a pleasant village with a very fine 2nd hand bookshop (and good shops) i always visit when up there, but the canal's too narrow to stop for long. Below that your'e in Hanley, which is not the nicest area in the world. It's not a long trip from the Caldon to the lake at Longport, which is probably the next good place to moor going north, and south you've got Hem Heath and Barlaston after a few locks.

 

I got my ropes cut a year or two back at Red Bull and now avoid mooring anywhere round there near the town. Just surprised the scrotes were out in the rain - it usually keeps them indoors. But I've been boating around that area for ten years now and have never been stoned, so suspect it was a one off horrible experience. I wouldn't expect any trouble in daylight.

We were coming through Milton last September (2013) when we saw a group of "youths" on the bridge, with a collection of bricks, half bricks etc ready to throw. I ran to get my camera and stood ready to photograph them, which made them duck down or scarper - but they were certainly up for causing damage and not really thinking at all about how dangerous it could be. Didn't stop to moor until we were WELL away from there...

 

So sorry MP to read about your ordeal.

[saltysplash]

Hope your baring up MP, Did you manage to sort out a Destroyer Screen for your return trip?

[Guest]

MHS, on 24 May 2014 - 11:35 AM, said:

How do you do this on an iPhone please?

You never know when that be useful for medical emergencies etc.

 

The standard iPhone software (iOS 7) allows it through the compass app.

 

Make sure location services are set to 'on' in settings.

 

When you open the compass app it gives your position in Lat and long at the bottom of the screen.

 

Or there is a couple of apps that will display the info. and show your position on a map at the same time.

 

eg.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/where-am-i-at/id389894248?mt=8

[Guest]

Just got around to reading the OP which I originally seemed to think was an old post that had been resurrected.

 

But yes what a crap and unpleasant experience MP, thankfully we have never had anything like that over the years, we have had small stones thrown at us (Leeds and Liverpool near Shipley) and been spat on from bridges (Aire & Calder near Kippax) , even some nugget once tried to 'catch' our boat with his fishing rod from a bridge (Erewash), but nothing as unpleasant as that and certainly nothing that resulted in damage to the boat or physical injury.

 

I hope they are caught up with as each time they get way with it the worse the attacks could become.

[Neil2]

Here's a little story to illustrate that sometimes these dregs of society do occasionally get more than they bargained for.

 

Just by chance, we were coming back up the South Oxford when we met a guy we knew vaguely, who moored on the L/L not far away from us. He was single handing and had been down the GU to London. I forget exactly where, but on the outskirts of the city, he told us, he was tied up one night when he was awoken by someone clearly walking on the cabin roof, and by the sound of it unscrewing the mushroom vents. Now, bear in mind that this guy is a fairly hefty looking individual and apparently sleeps "au naturel". He immediately ran outside stopping only to collect a machete that he keeps by the stern doors "just to cut the long grass with".

Now, I can only imagine what the sight of this huge hairy bloke, stark naked, wielding a machete, would have done to the two would be thieves but they ran off into the night screaming. You would think they would have dropped their swag under the circumstances but one of them insisted on trying to get away with it and our hero eventually pins him up against a fence where apparently he gave back the bag of mushroom vents with a "just don't kill me I promise I'll never do it again..."

 

Knowing the guy I don't doubt that this story is totally true, I just wish I'd been there.

 

 

 

[tillergirl]

Sorry to hear of your experience we both hope you will be able to put it behind you and enjoy your boating soon enough. We have decided that Stoke is a no-go area for us now too being the victims of petty theft a couple of weeks ago........broad daylight and on full moorings as well.

 

We did the Caldon last year and the back end of Stoke there is a real eye opener! Drug dealing in the park was only one those shockers.

 

Sending a virtual hug to you

[MHS]

 

The standard iPhone software (iOS 7) allows it through the compass app.

 

Make sure location services are set to 'on' in settings.

 

When you open the compass app it gives your position in Lat and long at the bottom of the screen.

 

Or there is a couple of apps that will display the info. and show your position on a map at the same time.

 

eg.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/where-am-i-at/id389894248?mt=8

Spotted it on the compass app. Many thanks

[Cheese please]

What happened to the OP is terrible and worries me to the point that I keep weapons of minimal prosecution under my weed hatch lid. Tyler Wilson, so readily accessible.

I had a passenger vessel nr Bristol which had a wheelchair lift that made it popular for nursing home trips. During one trip a half brick came through a window and knocked an old lady from her seat to the floor. An acquaintance of mine had a paintball site nearby and had loaned me a particularly fast firing paintball gun which I used to very good effect on the hurler of the half brick. I called the police and told them that the offending youth should be easy to find as his hoodie was covered in pink paint. The result was that the youth reported me and I received an official police caution for possessing an offensive weapon ( could have been worse ).

So now I keep weapons of minimal prosecution, machete for bank clearing, 8" divers knife for clearing prop, CO2 fire extinguisher for fire fighting (repelling boarders) and a pair of ( perfectly sized for throwing ) fat batteries for my heated gloves.

I know that this is proberbly not right, good or clever in any way but it makes me feel better.

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Be careful Cheese Please,

Not always a good idea, but Totally understand where your coming from.

Sometimes, (in my opinion) less is more, so to say.

What happened to the OP is terrible and worries me to the point that I keep weapons of minimal prosecution under my weed hatch lid. Tyler Wilson, so readily accessible.
I had a passenger vessel nr Bristol which had a wheelchair lift that made it popular for nursing home trips. During one trip a half brick came through a window and knocked an old lady from her seat to the floor. An acquaintance of mine had a paintball site nearby and had loaned me a particularly fast firing paintball gun which I used to very good effect on the hurler of the half brick. I called the police and told them that the offending youth should be easy to find as his hoodie was covered in pink paint. The result was that the youth reported me and I received an official police caution for possessing an offensive weapon ( could have been worse ).
So now I keep weapons of minimal prosecution, machete for bank clearing, 8" divers knife for clearing prop, CO2 fire extinguisher for fire fighting (repelling boarders) and a pair of ( perfectly sized for throwing ) fat batteries for my heated gloves.
I know that this is proberbly not right, good or clever in any way but it makes me feel better.

[Androo]

 

If anyone is around later in the week and fancies riding shotgun when we have to head back that way, it would be much appreciated.

 

 

Cheers,

 

MP.

Sorry to hear this.

 

If you have to return through the same stretch try, and do it as early as possible on a week day when all these 'scrotes' are either in bed or watching Jeremy Kyle.