I was digging a trench in the garden earlier with pick and shovel. We are planting a hedge soon and it's only a 30cm deep job but the ground is full of roots and rocks and is really hard digging.
Anyway, while working my way through one particularly stubborn stretch, my pick head was met with a bright flash, a loud bang and a puff of smoke. I used to be a sapper so i knew what it was as soon as it happened. I'd hit an HV cable and somehow defied the predictions of all those terrible H&S videos i had to watch back in the day.
For some reason, 6cm under the surface of my gravel driveway, there is a 415v HV cable that now has a crack in the outer sleeve and the armour has been penetrated. It was raining earlier and the wounded cable is now buzzing, crackling and steaming away with the water getting into it.
Naturally, I did what all good sappers do in these circumstances and quickly filled it back in and made myself scarce.
It seems that everyone still has power so although the cable is damaged, it still works.
When I last laid a cable, we were told that they always had to be at least 600cm deep, covered with warning tape and if possible marked on the surface with a post of something. What is the law surrounding this?
I have a bloody great cable 6cm's under the surface, i'm being charitable too, it may be less than that as the ground is not level but it's literally possible to scrape the surface with my heel to expose the thing now that I know where it is.
If i report this "fault", it is likely that the electricity people will come knocking at my door with a hefty bill so i want to be able to tell this to piss off and find the moron's who laid it and get the money from them, assuming that they are still alive and have not bee killed by any of their other professional cable installations.
Anyway, while working my way through one particularly stubborn stretch, my pick head was met with a bright flash, a loud bang and a puff of smoke. I used to be a sapper so i knew what it was as soon as it happened. I'd hit an HV cable and somehow defied the predictions of all those terrible H&S videos i had to watch back in the day.
For some reason, 6cm under the surface of my gravel driveway, there is a 415v HV cable that now has a crack in the outer sleeve and the armour has been penetrated. It was raining earlier and the wounded cable is now buzzing, crackling and steaming away with the water getting into it.
Naturally, I did what all good sappers do in these circumstances and quickly filled it back in and made myself scarce.
It seems that everyone still has power so although the cable is damaged, it still works.
When I last laid a cable, we were told that they always had to be at least 600cm deep, covered with warning tape and if possible marked on the surface with a post of something. What is the law surrounding this?
I have a bloody great cable 6cm's under the surface, i'm being charitable too, it may be less than that as the ground is not level but it's literally possible to scrape the surface with my heel to expose the thing now that I know where it is.
If i report this "fault", it is likely that the electricity people will come knocking at my door with a hefty bill so i want to be able to tell this to piss off and find the moron's who laid it and get the money from them, assuming that they are still alive and have not bee killed by any of their other professional cable installations.
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