A PLEASURE cruiser illegally moored on the riverside in Worcester could have been swept away when someone untied it.

The 30ft Dun-An-Oir was left drifting at a right angle to the quayside near the viaduct after someone untied the rear moorings overnight.

Luckily it was spotted by another boat-owner Lionel Ricobi, who managed to pull the boat back around, and re-tie the mooring rope.

He and partner Lucy Bee have been on the rivers and canals since March, making their way from Nottingham to their home in The Hopmarket, Worcester.

They spotted the boat partially adrift at 9am on Monday. “It was untied and had floated so it was blocking the right side of the river,” he said. Because of the way the river traffic is organised and where the boat was, under the archway of the viaduct, it would have caused problems.”

The night before, the cruiser had been securely tied up, according to Mr Ricobi. He said the couple had had their own troubles with people untying their boat on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal during the day, causing it to float away.

The cruiser is licensed by British Waterways but the owner was not aboard on Monday, and the boat was still moored yesterday. A Waterways spokeswoman said: “It changed ownership some time ago and the new owner purchased a short-term lease which expires on October 14.

“Before that expires the owner is due to take it to its new home in Gloucestershire.” Worcester City Council officers had slapped two penalty notices on the boat for staying at the Pitchcroft/ City Centre moorings longer than the permitted 48 hours, with the boat having been there since at least Saturday, September 26.