A Westside BID street warden has been praised after rescuing an ‘escaped’ GoBoat from the canals at Brindleyplace.
The GoBoats are available for visitors to rent out and enjoy on the canal network with their friends and family.
But the company had not even opened on Monday morning when one of the boats floated loose onto the canals with no passengers.
Chris Mason, the general manager at Tap & Spile pub on Gas Street, which overlooks the canal, spotted the boat drifting on the water at around 9.45am.
He saw how it was creating an obstruction to other canal boat traffic and so contacted Westside BID manager Mike Olley, who then urgently called street warden Kassim Sagher into action.
Mr Sagher, who then rushed to Brindleyplace to retrieve the boat, said: “I had to bend down quite low, and managed to get hold of the back rope on the boat.
“I swung it around and caught the front rope which was bigger and then used the front rope to tie the boat to a nearby fence.”
Mr Olley commended the warden’s action, and explained that the ‘escaped’ boat could have caused a crash on the busy canal stream.
He said: “Despite a comprehensive lack of maritime experience Kassim rose up to the occasion and amazingly remained dry.
“I understand Chris at the Tap & Spile had his video camera at the ready to capture Kassim’s anticipated dunking, but clearly he was disappointed!”
The GoBoat experience on Brindleyplace is open for business from 12 noon to 5pm on weekdays, and from 9am to 5pm at the weekend.
For more information and to book a Goboat experience, visit https://goboat.co.uk/birmingham/.
