Dusty the coalman brings warmth to boatspeople (From The Oxford Times)

Dusty the coalman brings warmth to boatspeople

9:30am Saturday 11th February 2012 in News

Mark Boardman, nicknamed Dusty

WITH his boat Dusty cutting through the ice of the Oxford Canal yesterday, Mark Boardman is one of those unsung heroes during moments like the current freeze.

Mr Boardman – nicknamed Dusty – is one of the last remaining boatmen who sells coal, diesel and bottled gas through the winter to people living on the UK’s waterways.

Yesterday he used his 60ft- long boat to plough through three-inch-thick ice on the Oxford Canal. The 54-year-old was adamant that the freeze would not stop him reaching boats along a 45-mile stretch of waterways.

“They rely on me,” said the father-of-two. “I am their means of cooking, powering their boats and providing electricity and coal for heating. “It is a big responsibility and I work very hard to ensure that they get their fuel.

“I am able to smash through the ice because I have a very heavy and powerful boat.

“If I don’t do it the authorities are not going to do it. You have to be careful cutting through the ice and there is a technique.”

Dusty, who has been working as a self-employed boatman for six-and-a-half years, told how the ice plays havoc with life on the canals.

"On Monday it took me 11 hours to cover a three-mile stretch,” he added.

“It was a journey that should normally have taken me an hour and a quarter, not 11 hours. I had to ram the ice by going back and forth.

“However, it’s not yet as bad as last winter when I was completely stuck and couldn’t move for four weeks. That was the worst winter since 1963.

“Then it took me 28 days to do the Oxford to Banbury round trip which normally only takes me two weeks.”

Dusty, who used to work as a graphic designer on classic children’s books such as Rosie and Jim, and the TV favourite Tellytubbies, took to the water after a divorce left him needing to “re-discover” himself.

“The canal system is a very nice way of hiding oneself away,” he said.

“It is quite romantic and a peaceful way of life. My supplier wasn’t as regular as I would have liked so I went and bought his business and the rest is history.”

Each sack of coal Dusty lifts weighs 25kg and he estimates that he lifts up to 20,000 tonnes of coal each winter while working 14-hour days.

He spends two weeks travelling the waterways between Oxford and Cropredy before giving himself a week off.