A friend is needing more sockets downstairs.

They currently have about 10 sockets on the downstairs ring main and
would like to add two more.

They called up an electrician who quoted an extortionate price. The
explaination given was that he could only take one spur off a single
socket, hence the cost involved with running cables from two existing
sockets.

However, I have had a look and the ring main runs below where the new
sockets are to be placed. It looks like a 30 minute job to be honest.

Whilst he is correct in saying that you can only take a single spur
off of an individual socket, why can't he simply extend the ring main?

Am I missing something? Why isn't it possible to simply cut the ring
main at this point and add the two new sockets?

(The floor area of the house is small, the fuse is, I think, 30amp)

sponix