RESIDENTS in a Worcester street had their car park flooded with water from the canal after the locks were ‘maliciously vandalised.’

Operatives from The Canal and River Trust were called at 9.15pm on Wednesday to high water levels at the canal near Astwood Cemetery and a flooded car park on Addison Road, off the Blanquettes Avenue.

Liz Williams, a waterway operative who went to the scene, said: “When we got there the gate at lock 9 was wide open and both paddles fully up, one section was completely empty hence water levels high further down.

“I got to lock 6 and again top end gate fully open and one top paddle fully up, not the paddle that was operational but one that was taped off and out of action. That section was half empty too hence flooded the car park.”

The trust are are treating the incident as malicious vandalism and urging anyone with information to ring 0303 040 4040.

Ms Williams added: “This is clearly vandalism as only essential journeys are allowed at the moment, so no boats were moving and, even if they were, boaters would not do anything as dramatic as what we found, even by accident! It’s bad because it could have flooded people’s properties on the estate, the water is full of all sorts of nasties too so you wouldn’t want people wading through it even in a car park.

“Empty sections also mean the walls of the pound (a section between the locks) can cave in and cause big cracks in the towpath which are dangerous, costly and time consuming to repair. It also means people don’t have water to cushion their fall if they fall in and there is lots of nasty stuff in the pounds like bikes, trolleys and rubble. It is also very time consuming for us to deal with unfouling (cleaning) the gates and refilling the pounds, especially in dangerous conditions such as ice and pitch darkness last night, and ice today. In the current climate we don’t want to be out on the towpath for long periods with lots of people passing us, we just need to do what’s necessary and stay safe ourselves.”