Contacting us in an emergency

If lives are at risk call 999

If lives or property are at risk, call 999 immediately. Once you have received a response from the emergency services inform us as soon as possible on 0800 47 999 47. 
Examples include:

• serious injury, illness or a fatality
• a situation where persons require rescue
• a fire or explosion on a boat

If you need an urgent response from Canal & River Trust call 0800 47 999 47

 For situations requiring urgent response from Canal & River Trust call 0800 47 999 47.

• a dangerously damaged lock, bridge or tunnel
• a boat trapped in a dangerous situation e.g. on a weir or in a lock
• serious flooding or a breech which risks lives or property
• serious pollution

This is a dedicated 24 hour emergency contact number. It’s manned for us by a branch of the Ambulance Service. It is sometimes not possible for on-duty Canal & River Trust staff to respond directly to the caller but we will be investigation the situation.

Non-urgent events

Please call us between 08:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday on 0303 040 4040 or email customer.services@canalrivertrust.org.uk

For non-urgent events out of hours, please wait until the next working day rather than contact the emergency number. Examples include:

• low or high water levels
• reports of damage or vandalism
• reports of fly tipping or animal carcasses
• reports of unlicensed or speeding boats
• customer facility breakdowns e.g. water point, pump-out

Crime, noise and pollution

Please report crimes to the local police in the first instance.  For issues relating to noise nuisance report them to the relevant Local Authority.  If the incident involves pollution or other harm to the environment please contact the Environment Agency incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.