In my case a car hit the base of the pole, over 50M away and pulled out both! Having seen the way PVC fascias are fitted four balckbirds sitting on a line could well be enough to pull the fascia off!

In reply to a post by MHC:

Having seen the way PVC fascias are fitted four blackbirds sitting on a line could well be enough to pull the fascia off!

I hope not

Edited by deleted (Tue 03-May-11 21:15:20)

is the telephone wire going under or over the electric wires? if under then it may be loose to keep regulation distances between the wires - if over then you want it tightend. In anycase although common practice it was illegal for them to have touched the dropwire fixing - I have done a lot of jobs for a national window firm who always call us out to relocate the wire onto the brickwork using an expanding eyebolt - this is simply a cost of the job and only BT can do it. If a lorry pulls that wire down and kills someone (which has happened in the past hence wire height regulations) then their and possibly your ass is liable (as they were your agents working on the line). Best risk a small charge and report as a low wire, than have some poor sap end up getting gorroted off their motorcycle etc.....
A QUICK PHONE CALL FROM YOU AND TEN MINS OF AN ENGINEER TIME COULD SAVE AN AWFUL LOT OF TROUBLE.
If you report it to bt saying you are a passer by then they will send an engineer out on a dummy job - this will make it all the harder for them to charge you - if it is nothing to worry about the engineer wont charge - even if he has to do something he may just be happy to have an easy clear and not bother going through the rigmarole of raising a charge without your account details. I certainly wouldnt (especially if I was on a call-out).
There is a five hour response time if you say it is potentially dangerous which it is. Call.

In reply to a post by CurlyWhirly:

In reply to a post by MHC:

Having seen the way PVC fascias are fitted four blackbirds sitting on a line could well be enough to pull the fascia off!

I hope not

I came across one instance where the parents of a friend had UPVC fascia boards fitted and they were not happy with the work and were refusing to pay - I went along to support him. The old fascia was rotten, but all the cowboys had done was to overlay the rotten boards with the UPVC and fix using 3.5x20 mm screws. Screws were way to short, and could almost be pulled out of the rotten timber by hand. So, yes, four blackbirds could be enough!

For the record, I called BT OpenReach out (via BT's India call centre), to disconnect an upstairs tel extension line, in a vain attempt to put more Orange broadband speed into my downstairs master socket. The initial feedback from BT India, was non-committal regarding whether it would be a "free" call-out or the standard minimum charge of £130. Without any further feedback from BT, I noticed that my BT online billing alert (via automatic email) some weeks later, unfortunately included the max call-out charge. I whinged to BT India via email, mentioning that the engineer did not spend more than 15 minutes @ my property, and did not even strip out the redundant extension wiring and upstairs wall BT socket. All I got was a token £30 off, which I had no other alternative but to accept (under their T&C) - with no apparent broadband gain to rub salt in the wound
Then, not many days later my broadband service was changed, without notice to BT WBC 21CN, and although my initial upload and download speeds improved substantially, I have since registered some bad dips. I'm continuing to record my speeds daily on the "Orange" speed tester, and it reveals an "up & down" trend. If it finally collapses back to previous unacceptable levels, then it will be "MAC" time, as one can be only patient for so long.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

is the telephone wire going under or over the electric wires? if under then it may be loose to keep regulation distances between the wires - if over then you want it tightened.

The telephone cable is below the mains cables thankfully.

However because of this, it means that there's more risk of a high sided vehicle pulling the telephone wire down as it isn't as high as it would otherwise be.

The builder still hasn't done the work although he rang me last night to say that he needs paying for the PVC work.

I said that you will have the money when the outstanding work is done !

Regarding regulation distance between the telephone line and the mains cable, there used to be a distance of around 2 ft (it is now aprox 4 ft because of the drop) which I assume was okay as a BT Openreach engineer moved the telephone line entry point to my house last year (because of a rising damp problem) at my request.

I was charged around £180 as it was a fixed cost not a time dependant charge which I reckon was a ripoff as the job only took around 15 mins.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

In any case although common practice it was illegal for them to have touched the dropwire fixing

I didn't know that

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I have done a lot of jobs for a national window firm who always call us out to relocate the wire onto the brickwork using an expanding eyebolt - this is simply a cost of the job and only BT can do it.

Any idea what the cost could be?

Cheers.

In reply to a post by MHC:

I came across one instance where the parents of a friend had UPVC fascia boards fitted and they were not happy with the work and were refusing to pay - I went along to support him. The old fascia was rotten, but all the cowboys had done was to overlay the rotten boards with the UPVC and fix using 3.5x20 mm screws. Screws were way to short, and could almost be pulled out of the rotten timber by hand. So, yes, four blackbirds could be enough!

I hope the PVC company hasn't done that as I specifically asked for the old wooden fascia boards not to be used because they have started to rot.

I can't check without climbing up a ladder though.

In reply to a post by shrimper1:

For the record, I called BT OpenReach out (via BT's India call centre), to disconnect an upstairs tel extension line, in a vain attempt to put more Orange broadband speed into my downstairs master socket. The initial feedback from BT India, was non-committal regarding whether it would be a "free" call-out or the standard minimum charge of £130. Without any further feedback from BT, I noticed that my BT online billing alert (via automatic email) some weeks later, unfortunately included the max call-out charge. I whinged to BT India via email, mentioning that the engineer did not spend more than 15 minutes @ my property, and did not even strip out the redundant extension wiring and upstairs wall BT socket. All I got was a token £30 off, which I had no other alternative but to accept (under their T&C) - with no apparent broadband gain to rub salt in the wound

Yes it's a shame as you had to fork out that money for no benefit with your broadband speed

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

is the telephone wire going under or over the electric wires? if under then it may be loose to keep regulation distances between the wires - if over then you want it tightend. In anycase although common practice it was illegal for them to have touched the dropwire fixing - I have done a lot of jobs for a national window firm who always call us out to relocate the wire onto the brickwork using an expanding eyebolt - this is simply a cost of the job and only BT can do it. If a lorry pulls that wire down and kills someone (which has happened in the past hence wire height regulations) then their and possibly your ass is liable (as they were your agents working on the line). Best risk a small charge and report as a low wire, than have some poor sap end up getting gorroted off their motorcycle etc.....
A QUICK PHONE CALL FROM YOU AND TEN MINS OF AN ENGINEER TIME COULD SAVE AN AWFUL LOT OF TROUBLE.
If you report it to bt saying you are a passer by then they will send an engineer out on a dummy job - this will make it all the harder for them to charge you - if it is nothing to worry about the engineer wont charge - even if he has to do something he may just be happy to have an easy clear and not bother going through the rigmarole of raising a charge without your account details. I certainly wouldnt (especially if I was on a call-out).
There is a five hour response time if you say it is potentially dangerous which it is. Call.

^^^ Best advice yet. Do this. ^^^

Ring BT and say you were walking down Joe Bloggs Street and noticed a low wire. When asked whether it looks is potentially dangerous, say yes. An engineer will be out within 4 hours of your call. Don't be home, or at least pretend not to be. Engineer will re-tension wire regardless of whether your home or not. No charge will be raised because the person reporting the low wire is not the bill payer, if you know what I mean. Tip: don't report it from your land line

Edited by deleted (Wed 04-May-11 21:22:16)

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

There is a five hour response time if you say it is potentially dangerous which it is. Call.

I just thought.

Last year I was with BT for my telephone and I called 150 (I think) to arrange for a BT Openreach engineer to carry out the work that I've mentioned earlier on in this thread.

Since then I've moved to O2 for both my phone and broadband, how would I arrange for a BT Openreach engineer to call as I can no longer use the 150 service as I'm not a BT customer anymore (for the telephony side of things)

Any idea what the number could be? Cheers.