On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:51:44 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:21:52 +0100, "NickP" wrote:



Anyone know of contacting BG/Transco other than by the call centre?

I have told them that at 13.00 tomorrow I shall put the new drain in and
bury the whole lot.

Any thoughts or advice thankfully received

NickP




Simple. Call them and tell them that there is a smell of gas in the
garden.


Unfortunately its not so simple,,

It appears that in the course of excavating, this chap has damaged a
plastic gas main that is the property of National Grid Transco.
Officially this is classed as a third party damage and if NGT choose
to do so, they can seek to charge for the full cost of repairs and
they regularly DO pursue for damages becuase there is so much of it
going on. In years gone by, such things were not as common and the
cost were largely absorbed by the company unless it was a major damage
which ran into thousands or millions of pounds.

Now, there are so many people digging roads up for all sorts of
reasons and so many careless contractors that there is a procedure in
place for recording/documenting damages and billing for costs. It is
common to send the bill direct to the householder involved, i.e if
they have floggit n run landscape gardeners limited putting up a fence
and they cause the damage when putting fence posts in, NGT bills the
customer, not the contractor. The customer then pays and seeks redress
from the contractor who will of course have 3rd partner liability
insurance. Failing that, they approach their household insurance co.

If a damage/escape is reported then depending on an assessment of the
situation,a temporary repair might be affected as in this case. It is
then put in a program of regular recheck to ensure that it is still
safe. Eventually a permanent repair is done.

I would therefore advise you not to get too pushy/stroppy with them as
someone might just send you a bill for repairs. Remember, no one works
for nothing these days. If someone damaged your car in a garage,you;d
expect them to pay wouldnt you? Its the same for NGT. They are not a
national charity or a nationalised industry any more. They are a
commercial operation.

I have seen damages ranging from minor nicks of 25 mm plastic service
pipe to damages causing widespread disruption,cutting off gas to
thousands of users and costing millions of pounds and weeks to sort
out.

The various utilities even pursue each other for damages- i,e NGT digs
hole,cuts telecom calbe,BT says pyus lots of money and vice versa.



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