"A COMEDY of errors" is how one onlooker described attempts to pull an abandoned boat from water at Bridgwater docks today (Wednesday).

A team of enforcement officers from British Waterways were on the scene to salvage an 18ft plywood boat, which had been ditched for over a year being it eventually sunk.

Resident in nearby Admiral's Court, David Horsman, watched the drama unfold as the crew set about trying to drag the rotten boat onto a small ramp and out of the water.

He said: "I couldn't describe the saga without laughing - it was an absolute farce.

"They got there at about 10am and originally tried to pull the boat out using tools which can only be described as garden rakes.

"It took about an hour and a half before they tried to tow the boat using a lorry but the ropes broke a couple of times, and then as they tried to winch it up the ramp the front end snapped off and the rest just slid back down and sunk again.

"I don't know why they didn't use a crane - the whole thing looked absolutely ridiculous and was a complete comedy of errors."

Shelia Shaw, a British Waterways enforcement officer on the scene said that, as the boat had been under water for so long the wood had rotted making it snap in half as it was dragged out.

She said: "We would have used a crane to lift the boat out but this wasn't possible due to the expense it would have cost us so we had to use alternative methods - brute force.

"One half of the boat was safely salvaged and the half will be recovered later."