Can the electric board force entry to a field.

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BBH

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No problem just a query really.

This morning two men from the electric board rang up to see if I could gain access to a neighbours field for them to carry out a repair job and the first thing the guy said was ' well we could cut the padlock and put one of our own on but we'd rather speak to the owner'.

Can they do that ? I was rather shocked. There were horses in the field who may not take kindly to strange landrovers and men in their field.
 
Depends if its an emergency or not. If they can't gain access and loads of house are out of power or a power line has come down and is dangerous then I expect they can but where they would stand legally I am not sure.
 
my understanding is that they need a court order, but yes they can access land without the owners permission.

usually leccy board has wayleave agreement with land owner
 
My dad manages the teams that carry out repairs to sub stations, generators etc and he has always asked permission first but entered anyway if they say no (not that many do, tbh, I doubt they'd want one exploding on their land!). I'm pretty certain that they can as something like that needs repairing, if it's an emergancy and there's nobody to ask then they can enter. I can ask him if you like?
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Yes they can, but they are supposed to see the owner first, to avoid damage. I had trouble a couple of years ago as they DIDN'T see the owner and lifted a gate off the hinges with two ponies in the field. I was fuming, especially when I saw the mess they'd made getting their vehicle stuck. Yes, there are two lots of locks on now, for this very reason.
 
hello, i work for one of the utility companies - by law they have to carry out a check of all meters etc. bi-yearly. if they cant access it with the owners presence (which they are supposed to try and leave cards etc.) they can force entry - they only time they would do it with out trying to find the owner is in an emergenct - there is a legal act for gas & electricity companies that allows it.
 
Yes, and no they don't have to ask permission. We were in, our neigbours were in, and they just cut the chain. Instead of cutting the link nearest the padlock they randomly cut a link, now the remaining chain is so short and it's a chunky heavy chain, it only just meets and you have to angle the links to get the padlock through meaning it's impossible to do up the padlock one handed which really annoys me every time I open the road gate. (Fortunately daughters 11.2 fits under the car port at the side of the house so we don't often need to use the field gate)
 
I used to work for the Gas pipeline people. Many of the pipelines were built through fields had legal rights for access on the deeds of the property, called a Grant of Easement.

They may well be perfectly entitled to enter and access a specific part of a field, and obstructing them may be unlawful.

However, they are obliged to act with courtesy and consideration IMO.
 
We have poles on our land and it is a condition that they have access at any time although in practice, they always call and let us know. If it's an emergency I honestly can't see what the problem is in them needing to access their property as long as they take all care. As to damage to the land by vehicles getting stuck and the resulting mess, if you contact your insurance company they should sort it out for you in claiming from the utility company.
 
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