Little green box mystery

stevieboy11

I have a green telephone cabinet outside the front of my house - it appeared mysteriously about six years ago - about 30" high, 18" wide and 8" deep, it has the letters TF on it (combined into one logo)

I want to widen my driveway and the little blighter is in the way - can anyone tell me who owns the thing, if it can be moved and what I have to do to make it happen? (any of these questions answered would be great)

throwing myself on the mercy of your expertise

stevieboy

DonnyDave

Do you live near some traffic lights? Is there a manhole cover nearby, and if so, any markings on it? Is there evidence of a where the pavement/road has been dug up and where does it lead?

Or is there a pole next to it? It might be a mobile phone mast.

Look at this page, they can look like wood telegraph poles. Or they can look like this.

If it does look like a mobile phone base station, look on Ofcom's Sitefinder site to see what network operator it is.

matty2767

if you are sure that it is telephone then try ringing the local cable company to begin with. unfortuanately they dont all keep good records and may not even know it is theirs.

or hit it with your car and see who comes out to fix it

however to widen your drive dont you still need permission from the council to do this. if you try and do it yourself they can make you put it back. i would also try contacting the highways department and tell them you would like to widen the drive and when they come out they will tell you.

Solomon_Broad

matty2767 wrote: »

however to widen your drive dont you still need permission from the council to do this.

As long as you own the property, and don't make any changes to anything not your property, then the council don't have a say in it. For example, you can knock down a wall that you own, but you can't affect the pavement or road.

BritBrat

Yeah, try rebuilding the wall 10ft high and see if the Council dont come along.

Allanon

stevieboy11 wrote: »

I have a green telephone cabinet outside the front of my house - it appeared mysteriously about six years ago - about 30" high, 18" wide and 8" deep, it has the letters TF on it (combined into one logo)

I want to widen my driveway and the little blighter is in the way - can anyone tell me who owns the thing, if it can be moved and what I have to do to make it happen? (any of these questions answered would be great)

throwing myself on the mercy of your expertise

stevieboy

Can you post a photo of it so that we can see it? With the letters TF I can't see it being a telephone cabinet - certainly not BT anyway.

John

Woby_Tide

Don't NTL/Telewest also install cabinets at certain points as part of their infrastructure

stevieboy11

thanks for all the guidance. in sunny northern ireland here, so the planning and council guidelines are a little different than in GB, so i still conscious of doing anything without permission.

i have an inkling it might be an NTL box, but i'll post a photo and hopefully that might give some inspiration

ta again

rosieben

Sometimes these companies will pay a nominal annual fee for siting something on your property. I know someone who had an electricity pylon on their ground and they used to get a nominal 'rent' each year but more usefully got invitations to various county events where they were able to enjoy the hospitality of said company, usually involving a very nice lunch! (I know because they took me along once and I was allowed in as their guest too!). So maybe someone owes you a few shillings rent!

Biggles

Solomon_Broad wrote: »

As long as you own the property, and don't make any changes to anything not your property, then the council don't have a say in it. For example, you can knock down a wall that you own, but you can't affect the pavement or road.

I'm assuming that, if he wants his driveway wider, this will affect the pavement, in as much as he will need more of the kerb lowering?