Damaged pole replacement

Last Wednesday morning a lorry took a wrong turn at our village crossroads. Realising his mistake, the driver turned into a driveway in order to attempt a 3-point turn to go back. But on reversing, the lorry collided with an Openreach pole (and a bollard), badly damaging the base of the pole and leaving it leaning dangerously over the road. The lorry drove off, the driver possibly not realising the extent of the havoc he had caused, but we understand was stopped by the police before he got far. There were plenty of witnesses, happily nobody was hurt, and somebody has got a lot of paperwork to do.

The police closed the road and an OR crew with a grab loader truck containing several spare poles and a drilling device soon arrived. They stabilised and then removed the damaged pole, but seem to have made no attempt to replace it, even though they apparently arrived equipped to do so. The cables from the upstream and downstream poles are taped up but have essentially been left dangling. A hole surrounded by red barriers is all that remains. Presumably some unfortunate locals have been left without service as a result.

Why would a suitably equipped crew not make an immediate repair and restore the service as soon as possible?

There will be good reason. Maybe the poles they carried weren’t of the correct size. Maybe a road closure would be required for the remedial work to be completed. Maybe carrier poles will be required, as the original spans were low…….

The poling gang were, without doubt, instructed to just ‘make safe’. And that they did.

I attended a report of low wires once, a pole down a narrow lane had been caught, and whilst not in the road, the 20 pair aerial cable it supported was now so low across the lane, that I could easily reach up and touch it. The only safe course of action ion was to cut it .

The immediate job is to make things safe.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Maybe a road closure would be required for the remedial work to be completed. Maybe carrier poles will be required, as the original spans were low…….

From memory it was a carrier pole. It stood by a piece of open ground near the village centre, and there aren't any properties its immediate vicinity. The cables did cross the road at that point, but I would guesstimate the spans to its neighbours, which are DPs, at only 30-35 metres. I don't recall cable height being an issue, and fibre has been installed within the last few months. The police had closed the road anyway till it was made safe. Maybe a different team to remake the fibre connections is needed?

Having suffered from a destroyed pole and no service for weeks ...

The other factor is that the pole cannot be put in exactly the same place - the impact will have moved the ground around the pole with all the paperwork that entails.

I would suspect quite strongly that the pole erection crew don’t do splicing and what have you .

There's been no further action today, so it does seem like the unlucky people affected are looking at many days or weeks before they are reconnected.

It just seemed a little odd to me. When poles come down in winter storms there are shock horror headlines if communities are left disconnected for more than a few days. I sort of expected that they would repair the damage asap and sort the paperwork out later.

When the one serving me was demolished, the forecast for replacing was up to 13 weeks. The reason was local authority rules , and insistance on being given advanced notice &c

OR around have done it in a few days but redtape stopped then.

We have a similar thing right now with our water, a builder cut through a water main, to do a proper repair the road needs closing for quite some time, AW have fitted standpipes and a couple of hoses to bypass the break until all the paperwork gets sorted.

In reply to a post by burble:

We have a similar thing right now with our water, a builder cut through a water main, to do a proper repair the road needs closing for quite some time, AW have fitted standpipes and a couple of hoses to bypass the break until all the paperwork gets sorted.

Imagine what the UK would do without institutionalised bureaucracy - civilisation would collapse. It’s the UK greatest ever gift to the world! 💕😅

Someone please find me a long orderly queue and reams of paperwork to fill in - ahhh that’s perfect.👌

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by burble:

We have a similar thing right now with our water, a builder cut through a water main, to do a proper repair the road needs closing for quite some time, AW have fitted standpipes and a couple of hoses to bypass the break until all the paperwork gets sorted.

Imagine what the UK would do without institutionalised bureaucracy - civilisation would collapse. It’s the UK greatest ever gift to the world! 💕😅

Someone please find me a long orderly queue and reams of paperwork to fill in - ahhh that’s perfect.👌

It wouldn't be so bad if someone took any notice of the paperwork, or better still real world problems. we have been in negotiation with AW over access to land, due to the severe drought and the rash of fires in the area we asked to see the RA for fire, they are due to start work monday, only yesterday they sent a copy of RA, it is a totally inadequate generic RA that totally ignores the 'Fire Risk Index' and subsequent risks to our crops and property.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by burble:

We have a similar thing right now with our water, a builder cut through a water main, to do a proper repair the road needs closing for quite some time, AW have fitted standpipes and a couple of hoses to bypass the break until all the paperwork gets sorted.

Imagine what the UK would do without institutionalised bureaucracy - civilisation would collapse. It’s the UK greatest ever gift to the world! 💕😅

Someone please find me a long orderly queue and reams of paperwork to fill in - ahhh that’s perfect.👌

As a local I am watching with interest the year long repairs to a breach of the Llangollen canal.

Bearing in mind that the canal was opened over 200 years ago and built by labourers with pickaxes and spades and a LOT of sand for the embankments, I have been surprised to see the numerous bore holes that have been drilled and other related soil testing that has been undertaken. No doubt future liability has reared its head.

That said, I very much doubt that Keir Construction; design consultants etc will be give the repair a 200 year warranty even though the breach area will now have geotextiled stone embankments.

In reply to a post by GoWest:

That said, I very much doubt that Keir Construction; design consultants etc will be give the repair a 200 year warranty even though the breach area will now have geotextiled stone embankments.

This morning a revised fire risk assessment came from Keir via AW, I do wonder if they sit on tables and rest their elbows on seats? It is from a standard template which is written around construction site practices, it has totally ignored that they will be working in a field in and amongst flammable materials with a 'high fire risk index' for the next couple of days, leading to 'exceptional fire risk index' later this week. It's so bad farmers are taking water bowsers into fields they are working, and within sight of the work area, twice in the past week, these have been in use whilst waiting for the fire service to come.