Canal collapse will massively affect business, says owner of narrowboat hire firm

It will have a significantly negative effect on company, according to the operator of a small boat hire company near the site of sunking canal embankment. On Monday, thegiant hole on the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch opened up, dragging two boats and leaving one balancing over it. Hundreds of liveaboards - people who live along the canal - are stranded, with repairs set to take months. Floating Holidays is operated by Paul Donnelly, who is based in nearby Middlewich, Cheshire, and the area is a historic destination.

A lot of our clients do the Llangollen Canal to do the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct,

he said.

We have visitors from around the world who want to go on the canals and hire our boats,

our company and future bookings are going to have a major effect on our company. "People are on two other main routes to do with the Anderton Boat Lift being out of service and the Bridgewater Canal being breached. This year, it was earlier this year in January, so it is restricting a lot of choices for customers to take different routes.

Despite the fact that the company was still able to operate on alternate routes avoiding the incident site, he said it was difficult to determine how much money the company could lose, and he was concerned that people would be turned off booking due to the event. Water has been lost from about 1. According to the Canal and River Trust (CRT), the canal between Whitchurch and Grindley Brooks is six kilometers (one mile), and the area is safe.

Richard Preston, the West Midlands' regional operations manager, told BBC Radio Shropshire on Tuesday:

Assessments to the bank could take days if not weeks, and [for the] reconstruction] will take weeks. We're already several months before we're going to get the canal back open.

A dam is also being constructed to hold the water at the site.

These items tend to take a long time to fix, particularly because of the fact that they are in a difficult location to get to,

Mr Donnelly said. "They're going to have to build essentially a road up to the canal, but there isn't one at the time.

In terms of our business. I admit it's a good thing to have, but there are people who are in a worse situation than we are,

he said.

If any of those people are homeless and need housing, we have hire boats that have been laid up for the winter.

Everybody in the canal community supported each other,he said.We've had similar problems in previous years, including locks that have failed, and then the drought this year, and we've all come together in the season to help each other out.

Many people have been homeless as a result of the tragedy, including Paul Stowe, who is originally from Solihull. He, his wife, son, and two cats were left homeless, and a local boating company has been aided.