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 .