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You’ve probably seen London Duck Tours’ yellow truck-boat hybrids around London. The clever cruisers are a staple in and around the River Thames. But the tour operators are set to disappear next month.
London Duck Tours are being forced to shut down in September, after 15 years of service in the city. Their central London launchpad has been acquired by Thames Water for the Thames Tideway Tunnel development, and they couldn’t find an alternative access point for their tour vehicles.
The strange yellow sights will be missed by Londoners and visitors alike, but the reason they must quack it in is for the good of the Thames. The Thames Tideway Tunnel development is set to stop 39 million tonnes of raw sewage from spilling into the Thames every year.
‘[It] will be a sad day for the company, which was going from strength to strength, but it was vital not to delay construction of this much-needed infrastructure project,' says John Bigos, managing director of London Duck Tours.
‘Tourists worldwide and Londoners will surely miss our iconic bright yellow DUKWs travelling around town. They have become a landmark in their own right. I would like to thank our staff, many of whom have been with London Duck Tours from the start, and the 1.8 million passengers that have travelled on a London Duck Tour,’ he adds.
If you want to bid London Duck Tours a personal farewell, make sure you grab one last tour before September 18, when the tours will be ending for the foreseeable future.
Sightseeing? Here are more walks and tours around London.