To round this off, Telent came back this week and installed the missing cab at the end of my road.... and it's a huge one (unlike the small ones I have seen elsewhere around town), so this could explain why it was done at a different time.

And Elgin was exactly accurate - it stated work starting on 1/2/12 & work started on that day.

Strange that they have installed it right on the edge of the kerb whereas the PCP 2m away is against the boundary wall of the adjoining property. In the location it's in I can imagine it getting hit by cars, especially as commuters park a few feet away with their wheels on the kerb.

Ihe only reason I can suppose is the presence of an LV cable running to the PCP shown on the planning permission plan, which would have gotten in the way of the excavation. But the risk of getting hit by cars would surely have justified the expense of moving that, especially as they have to tap it anyway to power the cab.

It would help if they put a refective strip on the side of the cabinet - dark green on a poorly lit street isn't exactly good to warn drivers of its presence!

Edited by deleted (Sat 04-Feb-12 00:16:01)

I've wondered about this when I've seen cabinets positioned right by the kerb.

I guess it must be a choice of last resort.

I don't know if there is an outright policy on where cabs are to be placed. Different organisations have different thoughts on where they should go (plus there are many variables to each site that there is no easy one rule for all sites).

In general, it's my opinion, that cab's (and other such street furniture) are best off at the back of the footway. If there are underground services beneath the surface then it may be that costs to move that may be far greater than moving the cab.

I've had several experiences where major streetworks projects have been changed at the last minute as other major services have been 'discovered' while works were in progress (and not properly located at planning stages).

In addition to the above, I have had to deal with several enquiries from members of the public who are not happy with the fact that a cab has turn up outside of there house (no matter where it is on the highway land).

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

I've wondered about this when I've seen cabinets positioned right by the kerb.

I guess it must be a choice of last resort.

Seems likely. For one of the cabinets near me, they started digging at the back of the pavement but hit some old, unused ntl ducting. They filled in the hole and about 2 months later came back to install a cabinet at the kerb edge instead.