Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
River tour soured as ‘unpleasant’ yob spits from bridge
Disgust as teen targets boat full of sightseers
A vile youth spat on a river trip boat full of sightseers as it passed under a bridge in the city centre.
The disgusting incident happened on Sunday afternoon as the group were enjoying a sunny journey along the Stour through Canterbury.
The teenager’s revolting behaviour has been condemned by Rob Nye, operations manager for the Canterbury Historic River Tours.
“It was just very unpleasant and spoiled what was a lovely day on the river for the party,” he said.
Mr Nye posted about the incident on Facebook with a photo of one of a gang of youths thought to be responsible, which was later taken down because the matter has since been reported to the police.
It happened as the boat was passing under the bridge by the Marlowe Theatre.
“At first something hit my passengers and we quickly realised what it was,” said Mr Nye. “I paused the boat under the bridge hoping they would go away but they were clearly waiting and I was spat on as we came out the other side.
“At this time with the coronavirus pandemic, the last thing you want is someone spitting on you. “Fortunately, we have antiseptic wipes and hand gel on board and our customers were very good about it in the circumstances and were actually more concerned about me.
“It’s also very rare for something like this to happen but they were quite a brazen group and I saw them cycling about the High Street an hour later.” Mr Nye says he reported the incident to the police, and has handed over the shirt he was wearing which was spat on as part of the evidence.
“If you can be fined for dropping a cigarette butt then surely you should be for any kind of spitting in a public place,” he said.
“Since coming out of lockdown, we’ve picked ourselves up and been quite busy, but largely with local people experiencing a river tour for the first time, because there are not many visitors about.
“We are trying to ensure our customers are as safe as possible and operating a group pre-booking system with the boats deep cleaned between each trip. “I just hope the idiot gets caught and learns there are consequences for doing this sort of thing because otherwise it will only lead to them going further down the wrong path.” Anyone with information about the incident should call police on 101.