A traditional New Year’s Day dive at Hinksey Lake in Oxford was cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions.
Oxford Scuba Diving Club has been staging the dive for years at the lake off Abingdon Road but members said they did not think it should go ahead after Tier 4 restrictions were introduced.
In recent years divers have retrieved rubbish from the lake, including abandoned dockless bikes.
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The club’s social media officer Matt Watson said members were disappointed the event could not go ahead.
A diver at the lake in 2019
He said: “It’s very disappointing because it’s a long-standing tradition and our members look forward to it but once Tier 4 restrictions were introduced we thought it was important not to go against government advice.
“The virus has meant we have had to limit what we have been able to do in 2020 but we are now making plans for events in 2021 after good news about the Oxford vaccine being ready to roll out.”
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Mr Watson, who is an engineering officer in the RAF, said the club uses a boat in Plymouth to visit wrecks.
He added: “We are now putting dates in the diary for a trip to Plymouth at Easter and hopefully that will be able to go ahead.”
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