LOCK-KEEPER Nigel Joy is fed up with residents pointing the finger at him for the flooding which inundated their homes three weeks ago.

Mr Joy, who has operated Marlow Lock for ten years, said people have come down to the riverside to blame him personally for the rising tide of water.

In the wake of heavy rainfall over the winter months, residents speculated water was held back upstream of Maidenhead to stop it from flooding.

It was suggested that the £10 million Maidenhead, Eton and Windsor Flood Alleviation Scheme, which came into operation last year, stopped water upstream. But this week Mr Joy said the allegations were "ridiculous" and had no basis in fact.

In November and December, 261mm of rain fell, compared to 241mm in November and December of 2000. In November, levels of rainfall were twice their seasonal average.

The Met Office said 67mm of rain fell in the Thames area between December 21 and New Year's Eve just 4mm short of the normal average for the entire month.

The log book at Marlow shows how the gates of the weir were drawn back as rainfall increased the volume of water in the river during heavy rainfall back in November.

Since then, the gates have been fully drawn most days and the flow of river through the weir has been at its maximum capacity.

Mr Joy added: "There was no question of holding the water back. The water came up so high that the water was touching the bottom of the gates.

"I can only suppose that what happened was that people saw this and thought we held it back.

"There was no way we would have done this."

January 22, 2003 18:30