Cut through Main cable to house, Big bill Recieved Advice Greatly Appreciated

[00jona]

Please help, I have recently block paved my front garden, I had dug down and removed the soil and was just breaking up bricks that I had found with a small hand held drill/ breaker when you guessed it I got a flash as the chisel went through the brick and into the ground. I dug down to find a black mains cable, this was not mine as I had already taken the time to find mine previously. it was to next doors who's power was still on. I called out western power straight away who came out and got a team out to fix the cable that night. several months later I have been hit with a £1000 bill (ouch). I wish to dispute this on the following grounds and would like to know if I am in my rights too. firstly I was shocked that the cable was only 380mm below ground level (is this ok under a lawn?) the cable had no tape above it or any kind of conduit or sheathing around it like my cable has. when they repaired it they also dug down another 8 inches or more and buried it deeper. if the level was ok in the first place my argument is why did they do this. I do have photo's with the tape clearly showing the depth from ground level. do I have any grounds to dispute this bill? surely I could have just as easily have hit this planting a shrub, also where the cable meets the kerb it was only 300mm from the surface. thanks in advance for any advice fighting the big guys. Matt

 

[Geordie Spark]

But,that is accepting they had the provision to press those charges,which quite obviously, they did not. The only reason i'm pedantically harping on about this,is due to the number of times,i have dealt with entities,such as utilities,where they say "If you do X,we won't do Y", where Y,is not an option for them anyway. I will bore you with an example. A friend of mine,had a large feed cable,run across the edge of a piece of land he owned. It went in,800mm deep,in 6 hours,turf back,job done. The ensuing paperwork,stretched out the possible reasons over 2 years. The development (retirement home) was now completed and functioning,and had become the extra excuse for not removing the cable. He could not touch it himself,for various,obvious reasons,BUT,did secure paperwork,requiring stringent terms for allowing further access to the cable,for maintenance etc. I will not go into details,but the cable got "damaged",and the turn-out and subsequent document waving,resulted in the following; One emergency supply,One newly installed supply through adjacent,LA owned land,One original supply,tagged and exposed at each end,ready to be removed. Which i assisted in the doing of...On the day,it looked and sounded like someone was going to Shawshank,in the end,everyone concerned,just had drawers full of tetchy letters...:conehead:

Preferable to having your drawers full of tetchy ants or black widow spiders.

 

[Slowhand]

Are they going to come and bury the cable at a decent depth and cover it with tiles or warning tape?

 

[driverman]

Are they going to come and bury the cable at a decent depth and cover it with tiles or warning tape?

I think not.

 

[00jona]

Are they going to come and bury the cable at a decent depth and cover it with tiles or warning tape?

yes it was buried deeper at the time of repair, sand around it and tape covering it at two different layers above it.

 

[sparksburnout]

I cant be bothered reading any further, as there seems to be some support for the DNO's here. Eng 54 has it bang on, these cables should be "buried to a depth that precludes disturbance from reasonable activities", for example digging a cartload of horse ****e into your rose-beds. Why should we have to work to proper standards when DNO's can get away with shoving unprotected cables across peoples gardens at stupid depths?????

 

[PEG]

I cant be bothered reading any further, as there seems to be some support for the DNO's here. Eng 54 has it bang on, these cables should be "buried to a depth that precludes disturbance from reasonable activities", for example digging a cartload of horse ****e into your rose-beds. Why should we have to work to proper standards when DNO's can get away with shoving unprotected cables across peoples gardens at stupid depths?????

Please don't include me in that cheer-leading group...:icon12:

 

[zap]

An interesting thread and good bye 60 day message...