Llangollen canal bank breached in Shropshire and homes flooded after pipe collapse

Stephen Court, who runs YouTube channel Court Above the Cut and ambassador for the CRT, said he believed the culvert had been blocked and teams had been jetting it in order to clear it.

“They pulled the camera out and the leak started,” he told the BBC.

He said teams managed to plug the leak on Thursday, but in the evening “things slowly got worse”.

“At about five o’clock, the bank started to sink slightly, and by 11 o’clock it collapsed and there was a breach into the fields.”

“The canal was built 220 years ago, and the problem is the material is very sandy and soily, as soon as water touches it, it washes out.

“I think years of underfunding has pushed the CRT, and they’re struggling to maintain what they’ve got, and of course that means preventative maintenance doesn’t get done as much as they want to.”

He added: “These things are going to keep happening if funding doesn’t increase.”