Pair rescued as boat hits trouble (From Witney Gazette)

Pair rescued as boat hits trouble

8:17am Thursday 15th March 2007 in Witney

STRONG currents on the River Thames at Oxford yesterday led to a couple on a boat having to be rescued.

Chris and Ian Wood, of Witney, got into difficulties on the river just after 4pm, a few metres north of the Botley Road bridge.

They called the fire service when they could not turn their boat around or go under the bridge due to the high waters.

Mrs Wood fractured her wrist while struggling with the boat.

She said: "It's just so embarrassing. We're very regular boaters and mostly we know what we're doing.

"The boat has had a thorough clean-out and we thought we'd just take it out and be back in time for tea, but the currents were too strong for us.

"We weren't able to get it away from the bank and I hurt my wrist."

Two fire crews were at the scene for about half an hour. They lifted Mrs Wood to safety first, before going back to pick up her husband from the boat. Traffic over the bridge along Botley Road was reduced to one lane while the operation was in progress.