Is there a law on cable minimum depth in the ground?

Purdy_1

My husband was doing some gardening and he has cut thru the cable that supplies the phoneline and internet. Its a double cable and only the phoneline seems to be effected. The cable was only lay 1.5in from the surface and straight thru the middle of the garden. We had no clue it was there. Will we have to pau for it to be fixed or will Telewest foot the bill as its their fault for laying it so close to the surface? HELP !

Does anyone know how far down cable has to be layed in the ground ? Will Telewest have to dig up the whole of my garden to re-lay cable as it is so close to the surface. Surely there is a minimum depth cable has to be. I dread to think what could have happened to my husband is the cable was live cus he hit it with the spade. They cant come out until Monday pm.

alanobrien

Purdy_1 wrote:

Does anyone know how far down cable has to be layed in the ground ? Will Telewest have to dig up the whole of my garden to re-lay cable as it is so close to the surface. Surely there is a minimum depth cable has to be. I dread to think what could have happened to my husband is the cable was live cus he hit it with the spade. They cant come out until Monday pm.

Dunno about the digital systems but the analogue lines in our area are low voltage so it would not be easy to injure yourself by cutting it.

Not sure about minimum depth requirements on private land so i will let someone else answer that one.

I can tell you that we had a gas line replaced from the pavement to the bottom of an alleyway some 30 feet and they used a "mole" to put the pipe in place which meant digging a small hole in the pavement and where they connected the pipe to our meter.

Great device saves digging up the whole garden and its not a specially trained small furry animal btw

System

No cable wont charge you, my neighbour did the same thing a few months ago, they came out and sorted it without charging him. Mind you, they dont really dig the cable in very deep so its easy to cut through it.

Realist

A paragraph in the regs states “…and be buried at a sufficient depth to avoid being damaged by any disturbance of the ground reasonably likely to occur”

Note – this means that in a normal garden, the cable should be buried to a depth beyond the reach of a spade or garden fork, since digging is the disturbance that is most likely to occur.

The same paragraph goes on to say “Such cable shall be marked by cable covers or by suitable marking tape or by suitable identification”

Also read this http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/7.13.3.htm

Hope this helps.

plumb1_2

6" is the norm for cable tv,how they getaway with it is a scandal,I chopped through my cable,didnt miss the tv,so cancell the DD.
This should be posted as a moneysaving tip,chop your cable and save £25 p/m:D

vansboy

& your home insurance 'accidentel damage' would apply, if you'd got lumbered with a hefty bill!!

VB

Purdy_1

Realist wrote:

A paragraph in the regs states “…and be buried at a sufficient depth to avoid being damaged by any disturbance of the ground reasonably likely to occur”

Note – this means that in a normal garden, the cable should be buried to a depth beyond the reach of a spade or garden fork, since digging is the disturbance that is most likely to occur.

The same paragraph goes on to say “Such cable shall be marked by cable covers or by suitable marking tape or by suitable identification”

Also read this http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/7.13.3.htm

Hope this helps.

I would say after measuring it with a tape measure it is only 2in below the surface of the ground and does not have any protective covering. The wire is black and looks like 2 wires stuck together side by side.
Telewest have told us we wont be charged.

jockettuk

telewest might not charge but i bet ntl would try.. my other half has the grey box attached to his outside wall in his front garden/ now a driveway. it keeps coming off the wall as wasnt screwed in properly when first installed. They tried to charge him £50 saying if it wasnt his fault they would credit the amount back..They didnt charge but if they had they would have been collecting the box from the front garden.. also when we dug up the garden to lay a driveway we found the cable only a few inches down.. we never relaid the cable but left it on the side of the driveway out of harms way as we had just paid a small fortune to get a driveway laid and that ntl have been out a few times telling us they might have to relay the cable so our cable now is not underground but accesable for the engineers to fiddle with do nothing with and tell you all is well huh.