A CANAL user has hit out at what she calls the 'anti-social' behaviour of local fishermen who camp overnight on the Trent and Mersey Canal.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, contacted the Chronicle after finding human excrement and other rubbish dumped in and around the canalside at Billinge Green Flash in Rudheath. She said: 'I enjoy walking along the canal, but unfortunately the behaviour of fishermen along this stretch of canal has reached a crisis point.'
She said last Sunday afternoon the towpath was blocked by a fisherman's tent, while a day later she was 'astounded to see the destruction caused by three fishermen'.
She said: 'They had ripped up fence posts to the adjacent field to use the wood for an overnight bonfire. Quantities of rubbish including food containers, plastic bottles, plastic bags and a small camping gas bottle had been thrown into the canal and strewn around the towpath, but most worrying of all was the human excrement left in the area where they had camped overnight on the towpath.'
She said she had written to the Northwich Anglers Association (NAA) in the hope it may be able to help track the culprits and added: 'This latest episode has left me feeling disgusted.'
Roy Garton, of NAA, said it was unlikely the culprits were members of NAA, as his members are not allowed to fish at night, as must have been the case at Rud-heath. He said: 'A number of people have had their permits removed and are no longer members of NAA after committing offences like this. I regret that these sort of anglers - if you want to call them that - are scum and they are extremely difficult to deal with.'
He said anyone who sees any anti-social activity in the area should call the club, which would call in its volunteer bailiffs to sort the problem out. He added that he was informing police of last week's incident.
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