A Water Chariots canal boat to be used during the 2012 Olympics.

Olympic canal boat company promising Haringey jobs suffers £2.5m collapse

by Tim Lamden Friday, September 21, 2012
7:00 AM

A company which ran canal boat rides from Tottenham Hale up to the Olympic site during this summer’s Games has gone into administration after suffering £2.5million losses.

Water Chariots was criticised for its high fares in the lead up to the Games, charging £95 for adults and £50 for children for the journey to the Olympic Park, in Stratford, from either Tottenham Hale or Limehouse Marina.

Peter Coleman, the company’s managing director, defended the scheme back in December, telling the Journal the service was “a great thing” for Haringey with 100 vacancies available to the borough’s “unemployed youth”.

However, despite obtaining a 15-year licence to operate canal boats in the area, the company was forced to cease operations by the first week of the Paralympics due to a lack of interest.

It has also emerged that some of the firm’s 100 staff are still yet to be paid.

In a statement, the firm said: “No director or investor has received a single penny of return or income from this venture.”

Tottenham MP David Lammy said: “After a great summer of sport, it is sad to see any company go into administration, particularly one that does so without paying its employees.

“The Legacy Development Corporation now needs to look at a more popular way to use the River Lea to connect people from Tottenham and the Docklands to the new Queen Elizabeth Park and create more sustainable employment opportunities for local people.”

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