30,000 sign a petition for barriers along canal
CALL FOR ACTION AFTER BODY OF STUDENT CHARLIE FOUND IN CITY WATERWAY
THE woman behind a 30,000-name petition calling for barriers along Manchester’s city centre canals says money should not hold back safety improvements, adding: “You can’t put a price on a life.”
Alona Ainsworth, 29, began her online campaign after the body of missing 19-year-old Charlie Pope was recovered from the Rochdale Canal, off Whitworth Street West, on Friday.
The mental health support worker, who works in Salford, said: “I didn’t know Charlie. It touched me. I just think it is really sad. It can’t happen any more.”
Asked if the cost of installing railings should be a deterrent, she said: “Absolutely not. You can’t put a price on a life.”
A summit meeting between emergency services, the Canal Trust, Manchester council, and the Rochdale Canal Company will take place on Tuesday to review the circumstances surrounding Charlie’s death and discuss possible safety improvements throughout the canal and river network in the city centre.
The petition on the Change.org website is calling for barriers to be put up across the city’s waterways after deaths over recent years.
Charlie was from the north east, but was living in West Didsbury while studying at the University of Manchester.
His father Nick, who this week visited the spot where his son fell into the water, said he was ‘astounded’ at the lack of safety precautions. Alona added: “I started the petition because there have been too many deaths in and around canals in Greater Manchester, and it is time something was done about it.
“It is really unsafe. It is really easy for anybody in any circumstance to fall in. The water temperatures are so cold that if you do fall in you have hardly any chance of survival.
“Some barriers would be great, especially around where there are bars and nightclubs. Also creating greater awareness of the dangers by emergency services going into universities to do talks. Coming to a city like Manchester, many students will not be aware of the canals - it is really important to get that message out to them.
“I think, too, the nightclubs have a responsibility. They could be doing more to raise awareness. Posters could advertise the risk in bars. The petition calling for barriers around city centre canals door staff have a responsibility as well to tell people to be safe on the way home.
“I think that safety patrols would be a great idea.”
City centre councillor Pat Karney said: “We welcome the petition. It is a sign of the care that people have, and people are thinking about Charlie and his family.
“All of us want the same thing that this should never happen again, and no one else should endure what Charlie’s family has gone through.
“We will be having a full account from the police of the event. I will be raising the issue of the safety of the canal to see what we can do.
“It’s not without challenges. We have half a mile of canals in the city centre. It’s a main pedestrian route. In summer you have cyclists, joggers plus the canal boats. So a lot of people will have their view.
“But we feel we have a moral responsibility in terms of Charlie’s family to see what we can do to prevent anything of this kind happening again.”