Thieves’ getaway foiled after stealing Stratford narrowboat with an Olympic history

AUDACIOUS thieves tried to make a slow getaway on a stolen narrowboat, even going to the effort of badly painting it in the hope the disguise would fool any police on their trail.

But the disappearance of Brum, a 40-foot narrowboat which was stolen a week ago from Wilmcote, sparked a public hunt – and uncovered the boat’s historic adventures.

Warwickshire Police Rural Crime Team put out an appeal for help to the public, asking for sightings to be reported following the theft.

Not only did this lead to the eventual recovery of Brum, more formally known as The City of Birmingham, but it put the vessel with a charmed past – including a 1986 trip to Canada and TV appearances – back in the spotlight.

The boat was taken between 8th and 13th November. To some it seemed an almost comical crime – with many observing on social media that the thieves were hardly likely to “make a fast getaway”.

But the owners, a Stratford family who want to remain anonymous, were devastated. The daughter told the Herald that: “We were completely heartbroken when it was stolen.”

Police took the crime seriously, and acted quickly to put their resources into action.

Describing Brum’s recovery, an officer said: “Even with the speed of narrowboats being so low (3-9mph depending on the direction and flow of the water) it became apparent the possible search area could be huge and include many different waterways.

“Initially the team used our drone to search inaccessible areas near to Stratford as well as walking the towpaths and checking nearby marinas and boatyards.

“Narrowing down the direction of travel and times of possible sightings was the next part of the puzzle, as such we released an appeal on Facebook.”

Praising the speedy reaction of the public, the officer continued: “The response we got from the public was nothing short of phenomenal. The post was seen by over 500,000 people in less than 24 hours with hundreds of direct messages to the team. Vital information was provided with sightings of the boat and possible offenders in Stratford, Bidford and Tewksbury.”

Further sleuthing revealed that the thieves had attempted to disguise Brum by (badly) painting it white.

The officer continued: “With a confirmed direction of travel and significantly better idea of what days and times it had passed through specific areas of the canal and river network, we made contact with other agencies and businesses to see if the boat had gone through locks, docks and rivers.

“After many hours of calls to the Canal and River Trust, Avon Navigation Trust, waterside businesses and River Watch, we managed to establish that the boat had been painted white in an attempt to disguise her and had passed through the lock into the Gloucester Docks area at midday on the 14th of November.

“Now only 24 hours behind the boat, and the stretch of canal we needed to search getting ever smaller, we had a fantastic response from the local Canal and River Trust team in Gloucester Docks.

“After hearing about the theft and that the boat might be in the docks area, staff went out walking the towpaths looking. Amazingly they found the boat and immediately contacted our team.”

The team raced to the location and quickly secured the boat. Although the offenders were not in situ, the officer added: “We’re confident it won’t be long before we’re having a chat with them face to face.

“The short of it is, we could not have found the boat without the incredible response from the people that live and work on or near the waterways, as well as the many other agencies that we are fortunate enough to work with.”

There was also a hugely positive response on social media to the news that Brum had been recovered, even though sadly it had been trashed by the thieves and has yet to make its way back to its Stratford base.

Thanking everyone, the daughter said: “We’re incredibly grateful for the community and the rural crime team for helping us reunite with our boat. The support we have received has been overwhelming and we are so thankful.”

It was during the response to this that details of Brum’s previous amazing adventures began to emerge.

Sue Stanton revealed that The City of Birmingham, aka Brum, was built at her father’s boatyard. Although no longer in business, Brummagem Boats was based in the heart of Birmingham and was known for their ‘Brum Tug’ narrowboats.

Sue said that Brum was built in the mid-1980s especially to promote Birmingham’s bid for the 1992 Olympics. This saw it taken to Canada in a container in 1986 to support the British Olympic bid at Expo ’86 and was widely covered by the media, including a segment on Pebble Mill at One that can still be seen on YouTube.

Sue added: “The boat has certainly had some adventures.”

Another Facebook user shared that a model of Brum had appeared on popular TV show Doctors.

Eve Bonham commented: “It is so exciting that the tug continues to have such adventures. The model of The City of Birmingham featured recently on an episode of Doctors as we left it in a prominent position whilst our house was being used as a set. If only that tug could talk.”