Can a meter reader insist on entering a property when only minors are home?

Ich_2

Interestingly after 39 years+ in the industry I've never had to insist on my legal rights in a domestic property, never had the door slammed in my face and never had to even consider taking it further. (a different story with some Industrial Sites).
(I generally only get asked for ID about once a year as well!)

It raises intersting possibilities that folk are unaware of some aspects of the industry and think that their house is a castle! I work mainly restoring supplies after breakdowns and in some cases we MUST gain access in order to do our job safely and ensure the safety of our customers, especially prior to restoring supplies.
So what do we do if we can't gain access, leave a lot of other customers without electricity while we argue the toss.
Nope, we are authorised by our employer (the regulator knows of this procedure) to dig a hole & disconnect the supply of those that refuse entry. It will then stay off until they grant access and we have staff available to attend. One of the benefits of external meter boxes!

mandalea98

Ich, I don't think my house is a castle nor have i ever even thought to refuse entry to a meter reader. I'm a mild mannered, polite mother of three and a law abiding citizen. My son also didn't argue whether the chap had a right to read the meter he asked him not to come in while they were home alone. He asked him to come back in half an hour. Reasonable, sensible request i think.

The meter reader showed him no respect and insisted, despite knowing it was against his wishes and that there were no parents in the house, that he be allowed in. Is this a practice you defend?

Ich_2

The meter reader showed him no respect and insisted, despite knowing it was against his wishes and that there were no parents in the house, that he be allowed in. Is this a practice you defend?

I've already said twice that he was acting incorrectly! Had it been someone working for me they would be having a no tea, no biscuits interview with the boss!

My last post was a bit of a drift to try to show some other posters that their stance can lead to other issues in other circumstances. In the example I gave I would ask that parents be contacted and be asked to return ASAP, certainly we could wait a short time, but if they were reluctant to co-operate we would have little choice in disconnecting the property.

(generally meter readers are paid £x per meter read and nothing for missed calls, perhaps that explains his actions and be of some use to you in your discussion with EDF)

spacey2012

I would be reviewing the child minding arrangements, luckily this time it was only a meter reader.
No disrespect intended, but the lad is obviously not old enough to be looking after siblings if a stranger can knock on the door and talk past him.

mandalea98

I had thought that from your previous posts but was confused by the last one. This was not an emergency situation at all and my meter was last read less than a year ago. I believe my contract suggests it needs to be read every 2 years.

I did say in my complaint to EDF that i appreciated he was probably paid be meter read and that he was due to finish work shortly but felt that even given these circumstances he was not justified in entering the property. All I want from my complaint is the assurance he wont do it to someone else and that meter readers will be trained not to intimidate children. Not a mad ranty person generally but this really did upset me.

Inspectorman

mrcow wrote: »

I've shut the door in their faces before when they've knocked at 8.30am just as I'm leaving to get everyone to school.

Surely a polite "can you come back later, I'm just on the way out" would be a better response than shutting the door in their face? :undecided

Back on topic - hopefully your complaint Mandalea98 will get this meter reader a bit of training and prevent them from exercising poor judgement in the future. Maybe Sasc will get to hear about it as I'm guessing it was a G4S worker unless you're in an area where EDF read their own meters.

DevilsAdvocate1

Ich wrote: »

I've already said twice that he was acting incorrectly! Had it been someone working for me they would be having a no tea, no biscuits interview with the boss!

My last post was a bit of a drift to try to show some other posters that their stance can lead to other issues in other circumstances. In the example I gave I would ask that parents be contacted and be asked to return ASAP, certainly we could wait a short time, but if they were reluctant to co-operate we would have little choice in disconnecting the property.

(generally meter readers are paid £x per meter read and nothing for missed calls, perhaps that explains his actions and be of some use to you in your discussion with EDF)

I have to say that I am gobsmacked by this. The parents are out working, just like you, to earn a living. Perhaps they can't just return home. In this particular case it was only going to be half an hour anyway. But you would cut off the utilities out of spite, knowing that there were 3 young children inside? :eek:

This in December too. Here it is freezing cold and there is snow on the ground.

Shocked is not the word.

Inspectorman

I'm guessing Ich works for a DNO and when they get called out, it is generally for a reason. So if the safety of a street (or the property itself) is at risk for the sake cutting off a supply, then yes they are right to do so.

I don't think he is some kind of vigilante meter reader.... :rotfl:

mandalea98

Thank you Spacey2012. I can only assume you have never made a mistake, had a child walk off on you, had a child hurt themselves in your care or a person in authority intimidate you to make this comment. I have heard of numerous children getting hurt at schools and nurseries, i know of grown adults who have been intimidated by doorstop salesman into making purchases, I have heard of children running off in supermarkets in the care of their parents etc. This doesn't mean they are not fit to look after children it means they made a mistake or an error in judgement.

I do hope you and your children continue to be so lucky and never make a mistake or have such harsh judgements made on them.

Ich_2

But you would cut off the utilities out of spite, knowing that there were 3 young children inside? :eek:

Not doing it out of spite it would be the absolute last resort, just to allow us to restore supply to the rest of our customers!

Ok imagine the situation, we have 60 folk with no electricity, to restore it safely we need access to one house that is not available (we got in all the others we needed to) should we walk away and leave 59 other folk off for the sake of one?
Should we tell the other 59 why they are being left off?
We don't even need the parents to attend, just a responsible adult a neighbour perhaps.

So tell me what would you do if you were managing the repair?
What if you were one of the other customers? What would you want us to do?

What if it is a difficult customer that is verbally abusive, should we keep trying?
Should we call the Police, but it's mainly a civil matter and we still cannot force entry without a warrant.

Life is not as black and white as some seem to think! Folk are working everyday making these decisions that on a forum seem wrong, but the industry has been going for a long time so we've had some practice about how to do things, something armchair experts seem to forget!