Cable outside my house - spotter says no permission to dig

[dudload]

Hi All,

I'm trying to get Virgin installed in my new home in the EC2A postcode area in London. A spotter just called me today saying there is a cable within close enough distance to our house, but that they dont have permission to dig up the roads!

Our local council is Islington (we live on the border between islington and hackney) - i assume they are the ones that don't allow it!

Does this seem right, or is the guy just being lazy. Surely they are allowed to dig to provide a utility to residents of the area??

Jonathan

[weesteev]

Hi All,

I'm trying to get Virgin installed in my new home in the EC2A postcode area in London. A spotter just called me today saying there is a cable within close enough distance to our house, but that they dont have permission to dig up the roads!

Our local council is Islington (we live on the border between islington and hackney) - i assume they are the ones that don't allow it!

Does this seem right, or is the guy just being lazy. Surely they are allowed to dig to provide a utility to residents of the area??

Jonathan

The permission may not have been granted as the footpaths may still be adopted by the council. The highways and street works act prevents work in the footpath if it has been re-laid recently, normally within a 2 year period.

Thats the only reason I could think of why wayleave would be declined by a local authority.

[m419]

The orginal Cable franchise awarded to your area is Cable Hackney&Islington part of Cable London which is now obviously Virgin Media, I think you should push this with the council as both boroughs are cabled by the same franchise and cable company.

Islington council have a habbit of not responding to planning permission so after 56 days if Virgin Media don't hear from the council, digging should commence.

I thought that once you are granted a licence under the Electronic Communications Code, you can dig up the streets anywhere were you want as long as there are no hazzards ect....

I would bug them again until they do something about it.

[dudload]

Thanks both - the strange thing is is that the spotter just said he had a request to get cable into this part of the street "a while ago", and that they were not allowed to dig the street - so therefore he/we wont get permission this time round.

just seems like a bit of a cop-out - do you think i should push this further with the spotter or the people on the 150 "moving home" helpline?

Jonathan

[BenMcr]

All the Movers centre would do is refer it back to the Spotters

If the spotter says no then it's a no. Especially as they are also the ones that would get paid for the sale so it's not like they aren't going to push to get it cabled in the first place!

[m419]

Yeah BenMcr is right, they obviously get some sort of payment for spotting.and catching onto customers So its the council you might want to chase up, I wonder if they would let it happen if it was BT?

[dudload]

Hi All, thanks for the comment on this.

A little bit of an update:

I spoke to Islington highways this morning and their response was that they see no reason as to why Virgin woudlnt be able to dig the small part of the pavement as (many of you have stated) they're a utility company.

So, I called up the spotter who then changed the story to thats it not a case of they can't dig up the road, but that the don't want to dig up the road/install for profitability reasons.

Its a bit strange that the story has changed, but all the stranger considering that there are 4 flats in our block I have spoken to and are interested in getting cable, plus the spotter always mentions that he has had to knock back several requests from other properties nearby in the street recently. Surely this won't pay off in the near term, but as a long term investment it makes sense - its not like they are putting a whole lot of fibre down - the house next door has it!

Can anyone help on this?

[johnathome]

Couple of weeks late but you could try this thread over at DS

Cant Get Cable? - Maybe We Can Help! - Virgin Media Broadband - Digital Spy Forums (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1152653)

[joglynne]

Couple of weeks late but you could try this thread over at DS

Cant Get Cable? - Maybe We Can Help! - Virgin Media Broadband - Digital Spy Forums (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1152653)
Have a read of weesteev's CF "Can't get cable? Maybe we can help" thread (http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/virgin-media-installation-issues/33657356-cant-get-cable-maybe-we-can-help.html) as well. It looks as though he has had to restrict any more locations being added to his list for the time being. :(