Gas works disruption!

ps124

Hi All,


I've had gas works outside my house that was scheduled to run for circa 3 weeks but has now overrun to at least 8 weeks. The company have blocked half of my driveway for most of this time, and on some occasions, the entire driveway. When I have been able to park on my driveway, getting in or out of it (sometimes multiple times a day) has been problematic and stressful because the temporary lights on either side of the road works have not been programmed to wait long enough for me to pull out of the driveway, 3 point turn around the barriers and drive down the road. By the time we manage to do this, there is oncoming traffic.



Anyway, someone has told me you can claim compensation against the council for this. Is this true? Please advise - totally fed up with it.

Ectophile

Why would the council be liable for it? They aren't the ones who dug up the road.

Aylesbury_Duck

ps124 wrote: »

Hi All,


I've had gas works outside my house that was scheduled to run for circa 3 weeks but has now overrun to at least 8 weeks. The company have blocked half of my driveway for most of this time, and on some occasions, the entire driveway. When I have been able to park on my driveway, getting in or out of it (sometimes multiple times a day) has been problematic and stressful because the temporary lights on either side of the road works have not been programmed to wait long enough for me to pull out of the driveway, 3 point turn around the barriers and drive down the road. By the time we manage to do this, there is oncoming traffic.



Anyway, someone has told me you can claim compensation against the council for this. Is this true? Please advise - totally fed up with it.

What losses have you suffered, other than inconvenience? And why should other residents pay for your trouble? Presumably your house is connected to utilities. Sometimes work needs to be done to maintain or improve supply. You may even be benefiting from these works and if not, I'm sure the pipes and cables to your house have been worked on at some point, at the inconvenience of other people. The stuff can't run on magic, so everyone has to bear their share of inconvenience.

Davesnave

ps124 wrote: »

Anyway, someone has told me you can claim compensation against the council for this....

It was that man in the pub, wasn't it? He causes quite a lot of bother here!

Why did you not stop him right there and ask why the council should be held liable for the duration of works by a private company?

Of course, you could take the utility company on, but what are your losses and how will you quantify them? Blood pressure readings, perhaps?

Robin9

Contractors for the Gas Board did some work replacing mains and services in my road last year. They kept me in the picture and none of the drives were blocked for more than a day.

They gave me a letter with contact phone numbers on it - have you got one - have you spoken to them?

Davesnave

Robin9 wrote: »

They gave me a letter with contact phone numbers on it - have you got one - have you spoken to them?

This is a much better way to see if the pain may be shared, though there might be operational reasons for the hole being in a specific place for so long.


When the utility company installed new poles and cables across our land, they provided a contact, who met us in person and gave various assurances. Unfortunately, severe weather intervened and those assurances were rendered useless, but that's life. At least they were decent enough to lose several hundred metres of copper cable here in the chaos that ensued.......

unrecordings

We had the exact same problem - Morrison Utility on behalf of Cadent and I was fearing the worst. But a quick chat with the guys in the holes did the trick, and they were quite happy to move stuff, stop traffic against the lights and make sure we could get back in. One thing that strikes me is that as a breed, people who dig holes in the road have no time for angry (ie dangerous) motorists - so go out, say hello be polite. There should also be a Cadent rep attached to the works to address resident's concerns

(Cadent being in charge of domestic gas infrastructure in this neck of the woods)

Hope that helps