Criminal damage to property and taking legal action

Section62

As "XXX" are an "electricity supply company" (A DNO?) they own the cable up to and including the service head and have rights to carry out work on it - including digging up the ground the cable is buried under.

Although generally they have to get permission to come into your home to carry out work, they can also obtain a warrant to do the work without permission.  AFAIK they also have powers to do what needs to be done to protect the public supply in the event of an emergency or dangerous situation.

I would be very surprised if any of their actions would be deemed 'criminal' - although they might perhaps be 'mistaken'.

Bossypants

I'm really sorry this has happened to you, it sounds very stressful. I think it may be above the paygrade of this forum, so to speak, so I would suggest calling Citizen's Advice for guidance on next steps. I've used them a couple of times over the years and they've always been very helpful.

theartfullodger

1stly follow XXX's complaints process: Carefully, keeping records.

Also email (calm & polite) their CEO - often starts sorting the issues out. get email ID from..
https://!!!!!!/.

C e o email 

Only if these fail then take small claims action under MCOL (Assuming England). see...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/money-claim-online-user-guide

Recognise that utility companies have mor3e powers than the average punter.

But it sounds to me a civil matter not criminal.  (We all make mistakes..)

These things happen.  Usually dealing with people in a polite, friendly, helpful way gets a better response - but your shout...

dannim12345

No experience of this myself but following the completion of complaints procedure you could try the energy ombudsman’s?  No idea if they could cover this type of complaints but something to look into. 

m0bov

Firstly, get a crime number, with intent or not, someone has entered your home by force, items "might" be missing and you might not know this until later on.

Legal cover with your insurance? 

Gather evidence, get quotes to restore the utilities and repair the forced entry and that's how you quantify your claim.

You can claim on your insurance and they will in turn claim from the contractor. Or you could do a small claims for £50 or so. Keep us updated. (the water board should claim the cost back from the contractor)

DullGreyGuy

Nardge said:

Dear Forumites,

I hope I've posted this in the most appropriate place! Please tell me if not.

I recently bought a house which is being repaired, renovated, and refurbished.

I wish to claim compensation from XXX (electricity supply company) who have severed my water and electric supply externally in the flagstoned front yard (in error) in addition to breaking and entering my home (without valid excuse), and who now appear to be deliberately covering it up, essentially saying that they're not responsible for the criminal damage incurred. I have video evidence that the flagstones in the front yard were intact two weeks beforehand, that the land was undisturbed until they'd turfed it all up, causing the above damage. Furthermore, my builder and the electricity meter could confirm that the electricity had been working beforehand, as can the contractor who had previously replaced my lead pipe for water supply to my home in the same area.

Is it OK for me to detail who XXX are on this forum? 

I have complained to XXX. Evidently they can't claim they've completed their investigation saying  all is OK and legitimate, as I'm sure we're not allowed to investigate ourselves in this country?

Who should I consult now, and at what stage? The Police? Should this be the Police station nearest the property?

If to take them to court, that would be very expensive? 
I do not know much about 'No Win No Fee Lawyers'? Is this a good case for them? Are there any drawbacks?

I'd be happy to give a lot more detail if I see people are replying to this thread and request it.

A big thank you in advance for your advice and guidance!

With Kind Regards

You can name XXX if you want to

I'm not one thats going to go hunting for your other threads and clearly what you've posted here is emotive but lacking any actual details so can only answer in the most basic way.

Of cause you can investigate yourself, people do it regularly. In certain regulated environments others may also investigate you but in most cases they'd expected you to have checked yourself first. 

Who knows who you should consult because the rambling didnt really say what's actually happened. On the surface it sounds like an overreaction to something and therefore unlikely something the police will care about. If you do want to report it to the police then just use the non-emergency number 101 and they'll route it to the appropriate force. 

Cost of court action depends on the "track" it is associated to which in most cases will be based on the value being claimed as a proxy for the complexity of the case. In small track the fees are small and no legal costs can be claimed, as you go up into fast track and through ultimately to multi-track the court fees increase but more importantly legal fees become claimable so if you issue and lose you have to pay for their solicitors. There are rules on engaging with the defendant and the judge has a lot of discretion on what they can award if people dont follow the rules/have acted unreasonably. 

Conditional Funding agreements generally will only apply if your case is going to go into Fast Track or higher because no legal fees are allowed in Small Track, so are your damages over £10,000? They will also take a percentage of your winnings and as there is no injury in this case it could be over 100%. 

The main drawback, other than the commission they take, is that once you start you cannot stop without paying their fees to date so dont start anything you arent willing to see through to the bitter end. 

Obviously you could be throwing good money after bad 

Section62

m0bov said:

Firstly, get a crime number, with intent or not, someone has entered your home by force, items "might" be missing and you might not know this until later on.
...

Without more detail it is impossible to give the OP any meaningful advice, but on that point alone, if they are going to contact the police to report a 'crime' then they need to be very careful what they say and imply.  If they suggest that items "might" be missing without evidence that anything is actually missing then there is a risk of their own actions and motivations coming under the spotlight.

On the limited information it sounds more like an 'incident' of someone entering the OP's home (with or without lawful authority), rather than necessarily being a 'crime'.  Claiming (without evidence) that items may have been stolen takes the report to a more serious level.

Ectophile

To me, the most likely lawful excuse would be that they had a court warrant because nobody had been paying the bills.

Section62

Ectophile said:

To me, the most likely lawful excuse would be that they had a court warrant because nobody had been paying the bills.

...or the renovation work had left the installation unsafe (e.g. meter/service head exposed to rain)

Nardge said:

I have complained to XXX. Evidently they can't claim they've completed their investigation saying  all is OK and legitimate, as I'm sure we're not allowed to investigate ourselves in this country?

Fairly standard practice for organisations to have a complaints process which involves two or three stages of internal investigation, and only then (if applicable) the customer having the right of appeal to an external organisation (like an Ombudsman).

If you've complained they have entered your property without permission then they need to investigate whether that is the case, and how it happened.

gm0

If they came out to flooding affecting electric supply.  Of whatever cause. (Your pipe replacer dug it up and damaged it or just old age).  They won't be charitable about expensive things placed over assets they have rights to access.  You carry some risk when you put things over them.

If they have fluffed going to the right location i.e. there was a legit job to do something like that - nearby. 
But the crew went to the wrong pipe/cable/meter and house. 

They owe you direct losses caused by unnecessary and innappropriate action.  Some of the assets damaged are theirs.  Some are yours.  Direct losses.  Complaint/Ombudsman/Small claims court.

Exactly where they think they were taking planned or emergency response action
Why they were taking it

Are key questions as to whether it is even worth starting this process.

Who sponsored any contractor work is where to begin.  Plod. DNO. Water company. 

The controlling entity should really own the complaint and deal with their own subbing arrangements.  Fred Smith the sub-contractor is not your circus.