Neighbour has left trench unsecured

jr5678

The gates you see in the pictures lead to the gardens. Between the houses to the front is open. This has never been an issue and probably mutually benefits both when carrying large items into the garden. As it is, I'm keeping the kids away, but those with kids will know that it doesn't take much for one to run off. And that is my concern. The hole has been open for over 3 weeks, which is more than long enough in my opinion. I am trying to talk to my neighbour about this and getting nowhere. As I said, we are getting quotes to install a fence, which I would rather not do. Doing this will also make it harder for them to carry out their extension works.

I just wanted to know if there was anything that meant they had to secure the hole better or fill the hole in sooner.

Norman_Castle

A board at 60 degrees across the hole would make it much safer and be cheaper than a fence. Ask the neighbour if you can do that. Anything will do, old chipboard or whatever you can find.

jr5678

Norman_Castle said:

A board at 60 degrees across the hole would make it much safer and be cheaper than a fence. Ask the neighbour if you can do that. Anything will do, old chipboard or whatever you can find.

What a simple yet effective idea! Thank you! That would definitely make me feel a bit better with the kids' safety.

Rural_Puppy

Why not get a large sheet of plywood and lay across the hole? I am a little surprised the neighbour hasn't done this already! Sorry cross posted!

Barny1979

unforeseen said:

Have you thought of securing YOUR boundary to protect YOUR children?
The trench is totally on their property. 

The trench is totally on the property, but how is someone expected to access and view the trench without crossing across the OP's land?

AskAsk

unforeseen said:

AskAsk said:

Best not to have a dispute with the neighbor, but have you told them that it is dangerous and your kids can fall into it and there could be all sorts of legal implications if that happened?

As the op is already aware of the danger not on their land then the onus is on them to mitigate the danger by preventing their children accessing it

everyone has a duty of care not to cause harm or potential harm to others from their own action.  there is no barrier between the land and so the neighbour blatantly leaving a gaping hole for his neighbour to fall into would be liable for any injury caused.

he is obviously negligent and couldn't care less if his neighbours fell into it and got injured.  not a good neighbour in my opinion.

Slinky

We had to dig a hole to determine where a sewer ran across our garden. We used an old door to cover it up.

AskAsk

Slinky said:

We had to dig a hole to determine where a sewer ran across our garden. We used an old door to cover it up.

exactly, it doesn't take two seconds to shove something over the hole.  if it was me, and the neighbour left the hole open like that, i would be busy chucking rubbish into it!  he will soon learn to cover it up