BOATERS along the Kennet & Avon canal are outraged after a woman with epilepsy was evicted from her barge by the Canal and River Trust.

The distraught woman, a boater without a home mooring, was so distressed by the incident that she was rushed to hospital two days later.

The woman was asleep when the CRT, police and bailiffs descended on Darlington Wharf in Bath on September 14, evicted her from her home and towed her boat away.

The eviction has outraged the boating community who say it reaffirms their view that the CRT governs in a far too draconian and punitive way.

“It was thought it was disgusting and probably the worst thing I have seen in all of my 25 years on the canal,” said Peter John Wells, who has a fixed mooring in Claverton.

“I was cycling by and was just appalled by it all. They surrounded her by the railway wall which must have been horrible.

“Boaters are afraid to speak out as they feel they will be punished and many boaters without a permanent mooring have been the victim of that.”

The woman was later found wandering around Bath in a confused and distressed state.

According to staff at a homeless drop-in centre she was so ill that she was incoherent and could not explain what had happened. The following day she was found by police and an ambulance was called.

National Barge Travellers Association chairman Pamela Smith said: “This is absolutely appalling. They are not looking at it on a human level. This type of governance is damaging and destroying people’s way of life.

“It is clear she had a disability and we have no evidence the CRT followed any procedure under the Equality Act. They have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

“This raises serious questions about CRT’s compliance with the law regarding the safeguarding of vulnerable adults. Those without home moorings are being targeted, quite the opposite of the CRT’s goal to enrich the lives of boaters.

“In social housing there are measures in place to safeguard vulnerable people with health issues do not engage with the authorities, but this does not exist with the CRT.”

After she was persuaded to leave the barge, the woman’s boat was taken to Bradford on Avon, lifted on a lorry and driven away – two days later she was admitted to hospital.

On September 22, CRT’s relationship manager Matthew Symonds said that the Waterways Chaplaincy had been supporting the woman but it had not been told about the eviction.

Boater Wendy Zakiewicz said: “I was very surprised and shocked by it all. I do not know the details of it all but I did not want my children to see this sort of thing.”

A spokesman for the CRT said: “We would never seize a boat in this way without first exhausting all other avenues, going through the courts and, where working with vulnerable people, involving our welfare officer and support services from the local authority and housing charities. We always urge boaters having difficulties to talk to us to try and find a solution.

“Where boats are unlicensed, they may not meet basic safety requirements and. In these cases the Trust very much has a duty of care as the boat can pose a very real risk to the lives of those living on board as well as those moored nearby.

“In the very rare cases where we have exhausted all avenues, we ask that a case goes to court so that a decision can be made independently by a judge.”