EDF in dock over ‘inadequate’ safeguards

23 July 2008

Transport for London this week successfully prosecuted EDF Energy for failing to comply with the New Roads and Street Works Act.

EDF, whose national street works manager is NJUG chief executive, Richard Wakelen, pleaded guilty to five breeches of Section 60 of the Act between 22 November and 4 December last year.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court was shown pictures of electrical wires in open excavations, pedestrians in the highway, displaced footway boards and up-ended barriers, taken at the site of the works on Tooting High Street, south London.

‘I can see this falls well short [of the regulations]. The photos tell the story,’ said district judge, Michael Snow.

Prosecuting for Transport for London, Quentin Hunt said the barriers were not providing ‘adequate protection for the public.’

He pointed out that there was a duty on work undertakers to check the state of the site regularly, ‘including when the site is left unattended’.

Angus Piper, defending EDF, said the site was ‘as well maintained as could be expected, given the busy area and the amount of people using it in the run-up to Christmas’. He said action was taken as soon as TfL informed it of a problem, and that the barriers in place were of good quality, but had been deliberately pushed over by a passer-by.

EDF carried out around 30,000 excavations a year in the London area, making it ‘nigh on impossible’ to avoid the occasional problem, he added. Contractor Skanska was carrying out the works, but EDF said it accepted ultimate responsibility.

Judge Snow issued EDF with a fine of £2,500 and ordered it to pay TfL costs of just over £2,700. ‘The barriers in place were inadequate, and pedestrians were forced out into the road. You should have used something more substantial,’ he said. ‘But, I am aware of the commercial realities and the site could not be manned 24 hours a day. I do believe that you are generally a good company.’

Outside court, TfL’s principal solicitor, Abbey Ameen, said he was disappointed with the low level of fine imposed.

A spokesman for EDF said: ‘We accept on these occasions, our work and that of our contractors was not acceptable.

‘We take such offences very seriously and have systems in place to monitor our contractors and improve performance.’

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EDF in dock over ‘inadequate’ safeguards

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