If you were passing through Birmingham between the 30 Sept and 6 Oct andwanted to take the BCN passed Brindley Place Waterside, you may have had a surprise…..

Because of the Conservative Party Conference there, passing boats had to persuade the police that there business was indeed innocent cruising and not a plot to bomb the PM and his party.

There were booms across the canal at the start and end of this stretch, with narrow boat openings slowing entry to the Waterside area running alongside the ICC/Symphony Hall building where the event was held (I suppose to reduce the speed of bombers in high speed craft). Also seen was a very powerful looking inflatable Police boat to chase would be offenders.

I dared not take photos of this as I did not want to spend 48 hours rotting in a jail cell persuading the police that I was not preparing to plant bombs.

The whole area surrounding the event building was protected by extremely massive anti-ram steel barriers as well as an army of, it is rumored, 2000 police from all over the country, working shifts to cover the 24 hour day over the period….phew!

I do hope that I as a resident and council tax payer of Birmingham will not be footing the bill! I intend to ask the questions as already our poilce budget has been attacked by protecting the Pope on his recent visit.

It’s all clear now, by the way.

Please contact me if you are mooring there for a night, as I live there and would like to chat.

Geoff