Incorrect Invoice / Dispute over damage to electrical cable

Smartlucinda

Hi all,

Would really appreciate your advice here. My partner is a self-employed blacksmith and on a job last year he was carefully digging a hole in a private garden for a gatepost he'd made with an insulated spade (luckily!) when he hit an un-marked electrical cable at just 270mm deep. A few weeks later, a bill for £750 was sent to the wrong address suggesting that he was liable for the damage owing to a breach of "Section 82 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, caused during works to lay, install, or maintain my apparatus in the public highway." We contested the bill, as this act was not relevant given that the damage was incurred on private property. 

They then came back and essentially said 'Sorry we got it wrong but we've decided that was a mistake and we're now holding you liable for the damage owing to failing to employ safe digging practices according to HSG47, according to the evidence in my possession'. 
Another invoice was sent with a new date and detailing HSG47 rather than the streetworks act but it has the same invoice number as the original, where he was held responsible for a completely different reason. Secondly, the damage report form that came with the invoice stated that it was not known if my partner used digging maps or cable locator tools, so they don't technically have any evidence in their possession!! 

We are left in a bit of a predicament. We have been waiting for a new invoice, with a new invoice number, to be sent through but this hasn't happened yet and now the power company is threatening to pass over the issue to their solicitors to collect the costs owed. As far as I'm concerned I don't think the invoice stands as it's got the same number as the original one. Secondly the company doesn't even have any evidence that my partner wasn't using safe digging practices.

TLDR; but do we have a leg to stand on? Should we sweat it out and wait for them to go to their solicitors or should we let them know we are needing a new invoice with a new invoice number stating why the previous one was cancelled?
Any advice or thoughts greatly appreciated here, I'm tearing my hair out!!!! 

davidmcn

The invoice number is completely irrelevant, it's not as if they need to have any number on their invoice or even produce something which looks like an invoice in order to make a claim. So forget about that.

I suspect the fact he caused the damage may be prima facie evidence that he wasn't using safe digging practices. Does he have evidence that he was?

(nothing here to do with consumer rights of course, though I appreciate there probably isn't a more appropriate section on this forum)

peter_the_piper

Surely its the depth of the cable that is at fault here, you would normally be allowed to dig your garden (270mm is not far off a spade depth) without being at risk from electrocution.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP does your partner have liability insurance? Would be my first port of call for advice on this kind of thing. 

comeandgo

Having worked for a civil company who did on rare occasion dig into cables, your partner is liable.  Hopefully his insurance will take care of the costs, please alert them to the claim.

comeandgo

comeandgo said:

Having worked for a civil company who did on rare occasion dig into cables, your partner is liable.  Did he check on cal811.com where there is some info on what to do.  Hopefully his insurance will take care of the costs, please alert them to the claim.

I now see I've given an American check before you dig sight, there is a uk one if you check on google.

davidmcn

comeandgo said:

Did he check on cal811.com where there is some info on what to do.

If you mean call811.com, that appears to be an American site.

https://www.linesearchbeforeudig.co.uk/ might be more relevant - though in any event the OP says the cable was unmarked, and records can be haphazard. In larger projects contractors tend to do radar surveys to check where underground services actually are.

Smartlucinda

davidmcn said:

The invoice number is completely irrelevant, it's not as if they need to have any number on their invoice or even produce something which looks like an invoice in order to make a claim. So forget about that.

I suspect the fact he caused the damage may be prima facie evidence that he wasn't using safe digging practices. Does he have evidence that he was?

In larger projects contractors tend to do radar surveys to check where underground services actually are.

But if they've written it, and referred to it as, an invoice does that therefore not make it an invoice?! 
He did use safe digging practices in that he carefully hand dug with an isolated spade and was only planning to dig 1ft deep (current legislation states all underground services must be at least 300mm deep). Cable maps were consulted before the dig - but how would you go about proving this unless they wanted to see the scorched spade?!
Secondly, given this was private property; I don't think this digging activity was beyond what can be reasonably expected of a person in their own grounds. At what point does 'reasonable digging' become a large project?

davidmcn

Smartlucinda said:

davidmcn said:

The invoice number is completely irrelevant, it's not as if they need to have any number on their invoice or even produce something which looks like an invoice in order to make a claim. So forget about that.

I suspect the fact he caused the damage may be prima facie evidence that he wasn't using safe digging practices. Does he have evidence that he was?

In larger projects contractors tend to do radar surveys to check where underground services actually are.

But if they've written it, and referred to it as, an invoice does that therefore not make it an invoice?!

I still don't follow your argument here. Are you saying your partner is willing to pay the bill so long as they present him with different paperwork? Whether it's an "invoice" or not is irrelevant, it's still a demand for payment for what they think he owes.

He did use safe digging practices in that he carefully hand dug with an isolated spade and was only planning to dig 1ft deep (current legislation states all underground services must be at least 300mm deep). Cable maps were consulted before the dig - but how would you go about proving this unless they wanted to see the scorched spade?!
Secondly, given this was private property; I don't think this digging activity was beyond what can be reasonably expected of a person in their own grounds.

If I was digging in my own grounds and damaged the cable serving my property, I'd expect to foot the bill to sort it out. I've taken on the risk that service media might not be as deep under ground as it ought to be if it had been laid today.

knightstyle

I thought that in the UK a buried cable should be 600mm deep and have a warning tape or mesh 150mm above it?  Did this cable have this?  If not then your partner should counter claim.

davidmcn

knightstyle said:

I thought that in the UK a buried cable should be 600mm deep and have a warning tape or mesh 150mm above it?  Did this cable have this?  If not then your partner should counter claim.

Counterclaim for what? There's no suggestion from the OP that their partner has suffered a loss (other than a "scorched spade"). 
Besides, even if those are the current regulations, did they apply to the cable in question? When regulations are updated nobody has to go around retrospectively bringing existing installations up to date.
Plus it could be the householder responsible for the ground no longer being sufficiently deep (if it ever was).