Kingston Rowing club will not let a Thames oil spill prevent them from getting out on the water this weekend, but will be taking some precautions.
The spill occurred on Saturday morning when a houseboat by Kingston Bridge sank, leaking diesel into the river.
Thames fishing charter business owner Warwick Salzer lost the majority of his possessions in the incident, which took place at around 6:00am.
Teddington RNLI, London Fire Brigade and an Environment Agency (EA) team were all dispatched to recover the sunken vessel and contain the oil spill.
Kingston Rowing Club manager Josh Burrows admitted he would have to be careful using the river until the spill had cleared up.
He said: “It would be safe but only in larger boats.
“We’d have to avoid having someone capsize as that wouldn’t be very safe.”
Many children row for Kingston Rowing Club on weekends and Mr Burrows admitted that there would be safety concerns if somebody did fall into the water.
“I don’t think anybody would choose to swim in oily water but [if somebody fell in] I imagine we probably would have to get them straight back to the club to check they’re okay and we would probably seek some kind of medical advice,” he said.
Those who do go out on the water will be out in larger boats, as they are more stable and less likely to capsize.
