Dog got electric shock who do I speak to to make situation safe?

whitegoods_engineer

Not sure if I am posting in the right forum but here goes...

3 nights ago, OH was walking the dog late in the evening about 10.30 and passed a green box in the street, some sort of telecom cabinet or maybe an electricity company box, not really sure which.

The dog sniffed the ground and apparently yelped loudly and was rolling around in convulsions for a few seconds.

OH thought the dog had been attacked by a hedgehog well it's the first thing she thought of.

Then she looked closely and there was a cable with tre ends just sticking out of the ground. The dog had had an electric shock.

The dog was ok after half an hour, just shaken. (the following night, the dog gave the patch a wide berth with her tail between her legs so clearly remembered).

Next day she (not the dog) rang the council, worried that somebody or something should suffer a similar fate, Council bods said one of their highly trained artisans would be sent forthwith to deal with the problem.

Result, cable STILL sticking out of the ground, no warning or cover in place. Ok so possibly the power has been disconnected but I would suspect nothing has been done about it. I might even go and put my voltstick on it (ooer missus) to test if it is live.

So, who do we call to get it made safe? Is it the Highways dept or the utility companies or the Health and Safety people?

Any advice appreciated.

MothballsWallet

Possibly BT, or Virgin Media for telecoms.

For electric, National Grid Electricity or the region's electric firm?

Sagz_2

You could try this:
http://www.payphones.bt.com/publicpayphones/reportafault.htm

whitegoods_engineer

Thanks for the reples, trouble is i'm not sure what the box is and also, the cable is a few feet from it so may be nothing to do with it.

Kilty_2

Does the box not have any identifying plate on it to say who owns it etc?

whitegoods_engineer wrote: »

I might even go and put my voltstick on it (ooer missus) to test if it is live.

greyteam1959

You did the correct thing.........reported it to the council.
It will have been officially recorded, the rest is up to them.
If you are really so worried about it then I would say the only place to get some real prompt action would be the police. They will have access to a Council / Highways / emergency number.
If a child was to touch a potentially live cable.............

Kilty_2

MothballsWallet wrote: »

For electric, National Grid Electricity or the region's electric firm?

If it is electric it'll need to be the distribution network operator ("the region's electric firm"). In Watford that'll be UK Power Networks I expect (used to be called EDF Energy Networks)

MothballsWallet

Kilty - Well, I don't know all the distribution network operators for the whole country, I know ours is East Midlands Electric (even though I live in the West Midlands).

Kilty_2

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Kilty - Well, I don't know all the distribution network operators for the whole country, I know ours is East Midlands Electric (even though I live in the West Midlands).

It's Central Networks (East if it used to be EME, West if it was MEB) actually

Don't worry, I work in the industry, I'm not just a nerd :rotfl:

aheaton46

Go to a no win no fee solicitor and claim your dog has suffered mental trauma and you wish to sue. The solicitor will find out who owns the cable.

zax47

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Kilty - Well, I don't know all the distribution network operators for the whole country, I know ours is East Midlands Electric (even though I live in the West Midlands).

Now you do;

http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/AboutElectricity/DistributionCompanies/