After the recent rain that we had I was again down Middle Pocket Road and I came across a couple of kids fishing in a pothole. The boys were actually quite close to the edge of the pothole and as the wind had generated some quite vicious surface chop and waves were breaking over the edge of the pothole, they were in a fairly dangerous situation.
Both boys were under 14 so they didn’t need a fishing licence, therefore they were doing nothing wrong. I am sure that I saw a sharkfin moving through the water a bit further out in the pothole and, given the drop-off from the edge of some of our local potholes, if the boys had fallen in they would have found it very difficult to get themselves out again.
Now I am not a wowser and I think that legislation that is introduced to protect people from themselves is a waste of time, but I do feel that the council could put up some signs near some of the larger potholes in the area to let people know that there is no water skiing, boating, fishing or swimming allowed in our local potholes.
If this can’t be done then I would recommend the appointment of a full time lifeguard to patrol our local potholes, especially after rain events.
Ray Linabury, Middle Pocket Road