On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:35:31 -0700
wrote:

Hey Folks,

I recently had to replace a ring main socket in a part of the house
that was re-wired 20+ years ago by an ex-electricity board inspector.
I was surprised to see that the earth connectors, instead of being
wired into the socket, were twisted together along with a flying earth
and connected to the earth connector in the metal box. The flying
earth alone went to the socket. None of the earths were sheathed!

Not quite as bad as my lighting circuit (since replaced) which had
free-hanging junction boxes all over the place all wired with just the
phase and neutrals in the box, and all the CPC's taken, bare, but long,
under the box and just twisted together. After 30 years of people
trampling about in the loft (it's a bungalow, all the wiring is in the
loft), you can imagine what the impedance was.

R.