Electricity Company Digging up Private Drive

[uuf361]

Not sure if this belongs in SP&L (mods please feel free to move!)

I own a house (which I don't live in anymore) which has a private driveway shared with the other 4 houses in the cul-de-sac - this has never been adopted by the council (nor will it ever be).

Have just been round to see one of the tenants and the local electricity company have been digging holes in it as someone in the road somewhere had their power cut off.

They appear to have done this without the consent of any of the owners of the drive.........I completely understand that they have powers to dig up and reconnect etc as they should, but I am more concerned with how they will repair what is our private drive ?

Based on the normal standard it won't be very good and won't last long which will probably shorten the time before I (and the others in the road) have to pay to have it all resurfaced.

Of course I could be worrying unnecessarily and they could do a stunning job but just wondered what is likely to happen and what comeback on them there is if they do not complete a satisfactory job on private land ?

[uuf361]

Mmm, interesting - so in theory they should have got consetn from those that own it prior to digging it up, i.e me!

I guess if it one of the 5 who had their power off they could have said it would be fine......it has never been dug since being laid (admittedly 10 years ago) but due to the gentle use it is still in pretty good condition......

[uuf361]

SMB said:

uuf361 said:

Not sure if this belongs in SP&L (mods please feel free to move!)

I own a house (which I don't live in anymore) which has a private driveway shared with the other 4 houses in the cul-de-sac - this has never been adopted by the council (nor will it ever be).

Have just been round to see one of the tenants and the local electricity company have been digging holes in it as someone in the road somewhere had their power cut off.

They appear to have done this without the consent of any of the owners of the drive.........I completely understand that they have powers to dig up and reconnect etc as they should, but I am more concerned with how they will repair what is our private drive ?

Based on the normal standard it won't be very good and won't last long which will probably shorten the time before I (and the others in the road) have to pay to have it all resurfaced.

Of course I could be worrying unnecessarily and they could do a stunning job but just wondered what is likely to happen and what comeback on them there is if they do not complete a satisfactory job on private land ?

Just a thought worth considering before you go in too strong, if this is on your property, it may be argued by them that the fault in in a section of cable you own, and that to correct it they could bill you? Admittedly they should have sought your permission first.

Having dug up the hole in the shared drive - that did not rectify the problem so they have now dug a hole (again without the permission of the council) on the adopted highway and got the supply reconnecetd so I guess they'd find it hard to argue that it was on our bit of the land

[uuf361]

I have now spoken to the council (who knew nothing of what was going on and are concerned as a hole is now on the public path/road) and also called the utility company in question.

I was very polite and just asked if they knew it was a private driveway and what happens now as it will look rather bad backfilled etc.

They have taken my details and promised to call back.

I now believe that one of the 5 in the cul-de-sac was without power which may lessen any impact as no doubt they would have asked for power to be restored, but as we are jointly liable for the drive then not sure how that would stand.......

Will wait to see what happens.

[uuf361]

cqueen said:

I'm pretty sure utilities have the right to maintain their equipment regardless of who owns the land it's on.

Yep, I expect you're absolutley right, here it might be more the question of reinstating it to the way it was before and at least letting someone know they were going to do it (as this does not appear to have been an emergency)

[uuf361]

In this case it seems they have started work on the public highway also without consenting or getting permission from the council either......

Should they have wanted to seek permission it would not have been difficult to find me - I live only a mile away and the tenant in my house (who is there most of the time and certainly when they started digging at 8 on Saturday morning) has my number

I'm not saying at all they shouldn't have done it as obviously getting someone's power back on is very important, but more that they should have asked (even if out of courtesy) as it is private land and that they should be required to put it back the way they found it (almost impossible as it will look so out of place having a big patch of new 'tarmac' in the middle) so that I am not faced with extra costs through no fault of my own.

[uuf361]

I've just had a call from the energy company. Their representative was quite pleasant but a tad condescneding. She said yes they dug it up, as they deemed it an emergency, and that they will simply relay/backfill and guarantee their work for a truly amazing 2 years

Since when did a drive only last 2 years

And they couldn't care less it won't match any of the rest of the drive or that it will be properly visble etc etc.......not their problem but mine......will have to go and inspect it, and see how good their workmanship is once they have finished tomorrow!

[uuf361]

I have no idea if there is any agreement in place - I have owned the house from new so could have signed something when I bought it, but have not done so since.

I appreciate they can't make it look old, but I do have a very high standard of how it should look - so hopefully they will do a proper job.

But what's with guaranteeing for only 2 years - in theory it should last more like 20 years ?