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

mandalea98

zoominatorone wrote: »

No point trying to shift the blame, it's your son who needs the guidance, not me

He has had the guidance. He made a mistake and rather than right him off as incapable as you would have done, i helped him learn from it. i had no intention of this becoming a discussion on my parenting as it is a separate issue. You may not agree with the way i bring up my children based solely on this incident and that is your prerogative. I don't generally use these forums but i had a genuine inquiry that i needed help with.

Can i please thank everyone for their constructive comments relating to the question i asked. I have found them interesting and informative and have enjoyed the debate. I think we got a majority answer of 'No.' with some conflicting valid legal points from Ich. I feel better informed to take this forward and appreciate all your time and relevant comments. Thank you

Bennifred

t0rt0ise wrote: »

No, he was wrong to answer the door. If it had been an axe murderer, having a child say "my parents aren't at home, you can't come in" wouldn't really have done it.

My point exactly. It doesn't have to be an axe murderer - anyone with ill intent could take advantage of access to the house. You might as well leave the door open if you allow unsupervised children to answer it.

mandalea98

Bennifred wrote: »

My point exactly. It doesn't have to be an axe murderer - anyone with ill intent could take advantage of access to the house. You might as well leave the door open if you allow unsupervised children to answer it.

You obviously missed my earlier post so i have copied and pasted it for you below. Thank you for your comments but do you have an answer to the actual question I asked please?

'He has had the guidance. He made a mistake and rather than right him off as incapable as you would have done, i helped him learn from it. i had no intention of this becoming a discussion on my parenting as it is a separate issue. You may not agree with the way i bring up my children based solely on this incident and that is your prerogative. I don't generally use these forums but i had a genuine inquiry that i needed help with.'

mandalea98

Also, if i answered the door to a mad axe murderer or a person with enough ill intent i'm not sure my status as an adult would necessarily help me. Shall i too stop answering the door?

Bennifred

Mandalea98 wrote: »

You obviously missed my earlier post so i have copied and pasted it for you below. Thank you for your comments but do you have an answer to the actual question I asked please?

'He has had the guidance. He made a mistake and rather than right him off as incapable as you would have done, i helped him learn from it. i had no intention of this becoming a discussion on my parenting as it is a separate issue. You may not agree with the way i bring up my children based solely on this incident and that is your prerogative. I don't generally use these forums but i had a genuine inquiry that i needed help with.'

No, I didn't miss that post. I'm sorry you feel so defensive - I wasn't actually criticising your son, just pointing out the possible dangers of youngsters opening the door to strangers.

Good luck with the complaint to EDF.

t0rt0ise

Mandalea98 wrote: »

Also, if i answered the door to a mad axe murderer or a person with enough ill intent i'm not sure my status as an adult would necessarily help me. Shall i too stop answering the door?

That's true. But it's just a line and not sure you should take it totally to heart.

mandalea98

Bennifred wrote: »

No, I didn't miss that post. I'm sorry you feel so defensive - I wasn't actually criticising your son, just pointing out the possible dangers of youngsters opening the door to strangers.

Good luck with the complaint to EDF.

Thank you. It's not so much I was feeling defensive more frustrated as I had admitted to both his and my mistakes a number of times as well as highlighting the fact we had used the opportunity to learn from them. Although I appreciate you taking the time to point out the possible dangers of youngsters, or indeed grown ups, opening the door to strangers, it did not address the question I did not know the answer to. This is why i was frustrated.

chanz4

undaunted wrote: »

Nonsense! As you yourself quote "at all reasonable times". It is not reasonable to demand entry of a 14 year old child at all let alone when told their parents will be back in 30 mins.

Furthermore if they could in reality impose entry without warrant there would be no warrant procedure

If a child is on site, and no adult I call the police out to attend. Inregards to rights of entry for the dno rights, they still have to obtain a warrant for internal meters although they can just dig up your service cable without.

spacey2012

Mandalea98 wrote: »

You, like Spacey2012, are obviously one of those lucky people who have never made a mistake. I hope you continue to be so fortuitous

Perhaps we have made mistakes ! And wish to share with you the consequences
Somethings can not be put right.
Every day people get up out of bed and go knocking on doors with the intention of harming, robbing, raping and murdering the people inside the house.
They will pretend to be all types of authority or official people.

This time you were lucky.
My daughter was not.
Thats life.
No offence taken.

mandalea98

spacey2012 wrote: »

Perhaps we have made mistakes ! And wish to share with you the consequences
Somethings can not be put right.
Every day people get up out of bed and go knocking on doors with the intention of harming, robbing, raping and murdering the people inside the house.
They will pretend to be all types of authority or official people.

This time you were lucky.
My daughter was not.
Thats life.
No offence taken.

That's awful! I hope she is alright now. I let meter readers in when ever they call, it's scary to think how vulnerable that makes us all! Your original post felt judgemental rather than empathetic to me - I'm sorry i took it the wrong way. It seemed unfair to judge the boy on one mistake when you knew nothing more about him. As a family, we had already used this experience to learn from and I will tell the boys that this discussion further highlighted these dangers. I posted only to find out what rights the meter reader had for entering the house. Reading the previous posts, including from meter readers, it appears that most the public don't even look at their ID. I think my sons age is relevant to the question I asked but less so to your message which highlights that we are all vulnerable.