Frozen Union Canal driver given community service (in 2010)
'Nisbet, 25, labelled "mad" by police, "stupid" by his own lawyer, and "possibly insane" by one sheriff is also being sued for the £16,359 cost of the salvage.'
...
Nisbet, from South Queensferry, said: "It seemed a good idea at the time."
And it's just frozen over again!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11790895
@cstross I'm just impressed that he got a mile before going through. The ice must have been pretty thick.
@edavies 2010 was the year of the big freeze. Edinburgh got 20cm of snow dumped on it more or less overnight and everything shut down—snow ploughs couldn't get into the city for weeks, airport was closed, ports closed, motorways blocked. It lasted a month before the thaw set in.
@cstross Ah yes, I didn't move to Scotland till July that year. There was heavy snow in the south of England for a while but it didn't last anything like that long.
@cstross He needs that "Not Insane" stamp on his hand from The Simpsons, just in case.
@cstross I was just in Linlithgow looking at the frozen canal, and discussing this eejit with my cousin
I have to admit that, on occasion, I have also said "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
It always turned out not to be a good idea.
@cstross "Four Canals!" There really are some idiots around. (Lucky they didn't drown, but I suspect the canal isn't that deep from the photographs of the scene.)
@cstross "We must have been doing more than 30 miles an hour before we noticed the puddles up ahead. We decided to go for it anyway and the front end just gave way on the ice."
