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A 47 foot narrowboat, Holly
went missing from the Middlewich Narrowboats fleet. Holly was
hired for two weeks, from 9 March until the 23 March. When
Holly had still not returned to the Middlewich Narrowboats depot
on 24 March, the boat was reported missing.
On the morning of Friday
20th April, Paul Foskett received some very credible
information, of a possible sighting of a boat believed to be
HOLLY, in or around the Banbury area. This reported sighting was
no more than 1 or 2 days old.
Paul decided that the
best course of action was for himself, and Adam, to travel to
the Banbury area and cover the whole of the Oxford canal. Adam
started at the North end of the Oxford Canal, and Paul at the
South end, both handing out posters to all businesses in the
area and also to any passing boaters.
It was sheer good luck,
that a gentleman that had met Paul at 'The Rock of Gibraltar '
public house and was heading North towards Banbury , he spotted
a gentleman painting a boat matching the description of Holly,
on the towpath at bridge 213 near to Pigeons Lock. He telephoned
Trish in the office immediately.
Adam and Paul were at
this time talking to two BW workers near to Banbury. Once Trish
had the news, she relayed it to Paul and Adam who then jumped
into their car and drove to Pigeons Lock. They met the gentleman
that had passed on the information re Holly at bridge 213, and
he pointed out the suspected vessel.
Paul and Adam then
casually walked past and confirmed that the boat was Holly. Once
this was established, Paul telephoned 999, and both Adam and
Paul, detained the gentleman on the boat until the police
arrived and arrested him.
The gentleman arrested at
the scene, will be appearing in a Cheshire court this Friday (27
April).
At this stage, we have to
be careful with information pending the court case. Once the
court case has been concluded, we will be happy to pass on
further information and pictures.
Paul Foskett - Managing
Director, Adam Foskett - Manager and Trish Labedz - Office
Administrator, would like to pass on their thanks and gratitude
to everybody in the Canal community. They were our eyes and ears
in areas of the canal system that we were unfamiliar with.
Without their help, the job would have been much more difficult.
So a very big thank you
to you all.
Paul Foskett
Managing Director
Middlewich Narrowboats
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