BOATERS who fished out shopping trolleys that were dumped in a canal near Maldon have spoken of their frustration at thoughtless fly-tippers.

Crew members of the canal boat Merlin were on a short trip along the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation on Sunday when they came across five shopping trollies dumped in the centre of the canal near Tesco in Fullbridge.

Deborah and Nick Starling and Gary and Carol Kaylor, who jointly own Merlin, spent more than an hour hoisting them out of the canal. They were rewarded for returning them to the supermarket with wine and flowers.

Deborah said: “We were on our way down the canal for a short trip in the afternoon and came across these trollies right in the centre of the canal. They can do some serious damage to boats if they collide with them, so we thought we’d do something about it and rescue them from the water.

“It took a good hour-and-a-half to get them out, along with a hollow traffic bollard, which was pretty heavy when full of water.

“We didn’t want to just leave them on the bank, as we knew they’d just end up back in the water, so we took them back to the shop and told the store.

“They came out to us and thanked us with some wine and flowers, which was such a lovely gesture.”

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Deborah, who lives with husband Nick on Hall Estate in Heybridge, has owned Merlin with Gary and Carol for 18 months.

Mrs Starling said: “It’s really bad along the navigation, not just in certain places but all along the area.

“Near to where we fished out the trollies were three large chairs just festering in the water.

“It’s a sad sight to see that people would be so thoughtless just to dump huge items like that into the countryside.”

Tesco manager Andrew McNamara, said he was grateful.

He added: “Our community environment is important to us and it takes coming together as a community, like we did on Sunday, to ensure it is kept clean and safe as possible for everyone.”