Energy meter reader trespass??

Terrylw1

Just to add about being referred to the CEO's personal complaints team, you will find they are a complaints team just like the rest but may work on higher stage complaints e.g. pre-deadlock cases.

That doesn't mean they are any better. Often, they are staff at the bottom of the pay grades in large companies and they can spend a lot of their time contacting expert teams as they are often more general in terms of knowledge.

After 8 weeks, you can refer your case to the ombudsman so why not give this a try?

uk1

sacsquacco wrote: »

Well done for obtaining a bit of cash for your accidently damaged ornament, I ve got to take exception from your emotive comment about meter readers .............

I think you've summed up the pathetic attitude that some people have in this industry seem to have abut the general public. Twice in this thread ignorant comments have been made about this situation and about my integrity. I wish such people were somehow weeded out of the induistry because they harm it.

Perhaps more importantly the security cameras showed the whole situation with respect to the purposeful damage and when these were sent to G4S ceo it was sufficient for G4S to agree it was purposeful vandalism without any reservation. They were irrefutable.

uk1

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Just to add about being referred to the CEO's personal complaints team, you will find they are a complaints team just like the rest but may work on higher stage complaints e.g. pre-deadlock cases.

That doesn't mean they are any better. Often, they are staff at the bottom of the pay grades in large companies and they can spend a lot of their time contacting expert teams as they are often more general in terms of knowledge.

After 8 weeks, you can refer your case to the ombudsman so why not give this a try?

Many thanks.

To be honest - life is a touch too short to take this any further. It makes sense to only fight battles worth winning and that you can win.

The reality is that the person concerned has been disciplained, I've flagged the problem, not wasted police time and a token gesture has been made.

If however future meter readers try to gain access whilst we're not here I'm going to have to think of a way bringing pressure to have the practice stopped.

The above poster sacsquacco - a part of the problem rather than the solution. He behaves as though he has first hand knowledge of our situation, calls me a liar. G4S says to me that trying garden gates to gain access to private properties without permission for routine meter reading is expressly forbidden. This chap says he does it every day and genuinely believes that 99% of the public approve of them gaining access through a gate whilst not at home and without their prior express approval. 99%! Even if this rediculous and silly attittude were right - what about those that object. I guess his view is they can s*d off?

Says it all really.

Jamie_Carter

Ok, you have now made the company aware of this bad practice. And with any luck they will introduce better staff training.

So now why don't you prevent the problem from ever happening in the future, by submitting your readings on line? THis also often saves you money.

amiehall

The whole point of an outside meter is for convenient reading surely? I like having my meter outside. If the meter reader has rung the bell to check no-one is home, I don't see why they shouldn't go through a side gate for example to access the meter. I don't think that's unreasonable. If it was locked, I would then expect them to leave. I think most people would draw the line before climbing but a lot of people have external gates.

Jamie_Carter

sacsquacco wrote: »

Well done for obtaining a bit of cash for your accidently damaged ornament, I ve got to take exception from your emotive comment about meter readers trying to "burgle", implying he was going to steal from you, , thats not far short of libelous. just to clear a couple of points up, the vast majority of our earnings is a fixed salary with a small incentive bonus after a certain level of readings are obtained for the week. most of us dont usually get much in the way of incentive bonus nowadays. Trying garage doors only, is definitely not approved by any company or utility, however trying a side gate to access the exterior meters is approved, and expected by 99% of people. I knock on the door to let people know I am there and to find out about any dogs etc when getting to meters at side and rear. Thats the standard practice

The language used by the OP may have been wrong. But it is also clear that the way you go about your job is also wrong. And if you don't change your ways, then people will just go to submitting readings on line, so that people like you don't cause damage to their property, or even invade their privacy in their back garden.

If someone has a gate to their back garden, then that is most likely there as a barrier to stop people entering without their permission. This could be for security, or for privacy, but that is up to the house owner. What these people don't want is someone coming along thinking that the gate isn't a barrier to them, and that they have the right to cross it....because they don't. The only people with the right to enter your property without your permission are the emergency services when carrying out their duty (not meter readers).

Jamie_Carter

amiehall wrote: »

The whole point of an outside meter is for convenient reading surely? I like having my meter outside. If the meter reader has rung the bell to check no-one is home, I don't see why they shouldn't go through a side gate for example to access the meter. I don't think that's unreasonable. If it was locked, I would then expect them to leave. I think most people would draw the line before climbing but a lot of people have external gates.

Well lets use a scenario: A lady is sunbathing naked in her private back garden, as she is fully entitled to do. The meter reader turns up and rings the bell, but she doesn't hear it. So the meter reader knows that the meter is at the back of the house, and that you can access it by a side gate. Now the fact that the gate is closed should be enough to say that the house owner doesn't want people going into the back garden. But the meter reader still thinks he has the right to enter the back garden, so he tries the gate. The gate is locked, so he reaches over the top and finds a bolt. He unfastens the bolt, and enters the rear garden, and then finds himself standing over the lady. She screams thinking that he is a pervert, runs inside and calls the police.

Now without going into the possible outcome, do you think that the meter reader had the right to invade this lady's privacy? There were two barriers (both the gate and the bolt), but he still assumed that he had the right to enter the back garden.

amiehall

I didn't mention doing any unbolting? I think trying the handle of an internal door is too far, same goes for any climbing or, as you mention, unlocking of locked gates but I do think it's reasonable to access an external meter when the home owners are out. That's why it's outside.

Jamie_Carter

amiehall wrote: »

I didn't mention doing any unbolting? I think trying the handle of an internal door is too far, same goes for any climbing or, as you mention, unlocking of locked gates but I do think it's reasonable to access an external meter when the home owners are out. That's why it's outside.

If the meter is at the front of the house, then that's fine. But they shouldn't be trying to cross any barriers. After all in my scenario the meter reader may have thought that the householder was out.

Inspectorman

Glad to see you got some resolve UK1

All meter readers will try side gates if they know it's behind on the side wall (and where permission has been granted previously to access ones at the back of the property). In UK1s case it was wrong what happened (as it would be in anyones case) as the gate was locked.

The company I worked for allowed going through side gates if they were latched - if bolted then permission was to be sought from the homeowner.

As mentioned, more people than not in my experience were annoyed / mystified if you knocked when the meter was outside through a gate.