Watching a program on tv the other night about blocked drains I felt
sorry for the poor chap who had to call in a firm of drain clearers
only to discover to his horror that the problem was not on his property
but out on a busy main road where his outfall connected to the main
sewer.Surely the remedial costs should not have fallen on the
householder,as in this case(it was a collapsed pipe under the road)the
problem was caused by heavy traffic on the road?

On 1 Jul 2005 08:50:44 -0700, "michaelangelo7"
wrote:

Watching a program on tv the other night about blocked drains I felt
sorry for the poor chap who had to call in a firm of drain clearers
only to discover to his horror that the problem was not on his property
but out on a busy main road where his outfall connected to the main
sewer.Surely the remedial costs should not have fallen on the
householder,as in this case(it was a collapsed pipe under the road)the
problem was caused by heavy traffic on the road?

We have a similar situation but fortunately not such serious damage.

There is a private sewer that serves 38 houses and then crosses the
road - a bus route - to join the main sewer on the other side of
the road.

We were deemed responsible when it became blocked and required
clearing and lining. No one wanted to organize this number of
householders, many of whom denied any liablity and so it was left to
the council to organize and pay for the work, to which was added a 33%
administration fee, the total then being divided between the
properties.

If you are in such a position, it is worth making sure your insurance
covers such items as we were fortunate there was so many of us but a
couple of semi-detached bungalows further down the road each have a
road crossing and the cost would have been considerable.

Andy

On 1 Jul 2005 08:50:44 -0700, "michaelangelo7"
wrote:

Watching a program on tv the other night about blocked drains I felt
sorry for the poor chap who had to call in a firm of drain clearers
only to discover to his horror that the problem was not on his property
but out on a busy main road where his outfall connected to the main
sewer.Surely the remedial costs should not have fallen on the
householder,as in this case(it was a collapsed pipe under the road)the
problem was caused by heavy traffic on the road?

They wouldn't if the road and the drains had been adopted by the
Council.

The Council refused to adopt our road and drains for nearly 20 years
because the drains had been damaged in scores of places by heavy
machinery whilst the estate was being built.

Unaccountably the builders had been released from their bond by the
Council but the Council had been subsequently been re-organised and
somehow the minutes of the Council meeting that released the bond had
gone missing. Like they do. ;-)

DG

In message ,
Derek ^ wrote:

On 1 Jul 2005 08:50:44 -0700, "michaelangelo7"
wrote:

Watching a program on tv the other night about blocked drains I felt
sorry for the poor chap who had to call in a firm of drain clearers
only to discover to his horror that the problem was not on his property
but out on a busy main road where his outfall connected to the main
sewer.Surely the remedial costs should not have fallen on the
householder,as in this case(it was a collapsed pipe under the road)the
problem was caused by heavy traffic on the road?

They wouldn't if the road and the drains had been adopted by the
Council.

The Council refused to adopt our road and drains for nearly 20 years
because the drains had been damaged in scores of places by heavy
machinery whilst the estate was being built.

Had the opposite problem at church recently.

We've known for years that there was a partly collapsed drain between
our outflow and the main sewer which runs under the busy road just
outside, but it wasn't a problem until we decided to build an extension
complete with new loos.

Our suspicions were that the collapse was caused by road widening
carried out by the council many years ago, but there's no way to prove
it, so we were liable for the repair.

The money could have been better used elsewhere, but we *really* needed
those new loos!

Hwyl!

M.

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