Hopping mad - but what can I do?

[dexterdoglancashire]

last week I found a chap taking photos of my front garden - no probs, I wandered over and had a chat.
Turns out united utilities want to dig up my "service patch" in my front garden to replace a leccky cable that is "old".
OK, fair enough - I knew this when I bought the house in 1995....
Earlier this year re-did my rockery so the garden looks lovely (if I could remember how to post photos I would do).
Spoke to the i/c at united utilities today - he couldn't give a damn! I told him about the 400+ bulbs in rockery - got a grump!
Even worse! I told him about the coal tits nesting in the trees about to fledge - no response!
I was expecting something like this - the rockery - OK, but a sympathetic supervisor would be nice. Basically, I'm going to loose the rockery...
I'm not a happy bunny - I'm hopping mad!!!
Has anyone had a similar experience? What devastation are they going to cause on my front garden?
Bernie aka DDL
PS Giving Dexter biting and barking lessons this evening!...............

[Two_Sheds]

It's illegal to disturb nesting birds. So there. Nesting birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is an offence to intentionally or recklessly:
• take, damage or destroy (a) nest whilst in use or being built
Wildlife & Countryside Act

[dexterdoglancashire]

I need to know what to do before 9am, tomorrow!

[fleursotheforest]

You should take photos before they start and write insisting on compensation to enable you to restore the garden and planting afterwards...good luck

[dexterdoglancashire]

thanks! photos taken, rspb notified and asked for advice. mse left on the answer m/c asking for compensation to be confirmed in writing! watch this space.
Bernie aka DDL

[peanut]

It's illegal to disturb nesting birds. So there.

As Twosheds says it is illegal to disturb nesting birds see quote below:

"It is illegal to intentionally damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird whilst it is being built or used" (Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981).

They can't do anything until the birds have left the nest....so that'll give you time to, if nothing else lift and save any plants that you want to keep.

[Alice]

DDL, I don't know what the situation is in England but in Scotland
The utilies do have a right to access cables etc for replacement or repair
BUT they do have to give you reasonable notice - like 14 days
They do have to arrange something mutually agreable
And they do have to reinstate any damage.
Why not call their legal department and ask what they think their rights are.
Make your objections to them.
Ask for your guarantees in writing.
Take photographs of everything.
Hope it all works out for you.

[Nicos]

I would ask for a landscape gardener to give a quote on getting your garden back to how it is - asap- if you can.

Nesting birds should be left alone...problem is enforcing it- ???Get the local paper involved????

Sorry for your upset DDL....why is life such a hassle????

[quark1]

Common sense tells me that unless they have a service hatch such as do the drains - that any further necessary excavations should be made good after - just as they found them.

I would imagine that that is why they also took photos of your garden so that restoration can be made?

I would hope that they will take due care and attention over the nesting birds and either postpone works or avoid their area. Also they should not simply bring in the excavator and get stuck in - but should be carefully removing your rockery construction and its plant stock (safely to pots or temp buckets) whilst work in progress.

24hrs notice is unreasonable - and what if you had been on holiday and they just got started? You 'may' have returned to find your garden vandalised and not know who did it.

By all means get a landscape gardener to give you a quote - but it should be the utility company that should have to do the running around and paying out, not you - imho.

But of course these things are never that simple. If they seem to be going ahead anyway - call the local press and possibly police regarding the nesting birds and at least try and get things delayed. The adverse publicity will not be good for the company - even if you 'buy' your leccy from a competitor - they still have access as they are resposible for maintaining the hardware.

[jacob marley]

I should imagine that the same applys as it do's round here the electric company have to give you 14 days notice of supply dissruption in writing .
And as they are putting a new cable in that is a dissruption shout hard and long do not be messed about jacob marley

[HeyWayne]

We had a similar situation last year when we had problems with our drainage at the back of the house.

Luckily it was all covered by our insurance, but we had to have a massive hole (6ft x 6ft x 6ft) dug in our year old lawn for a "percolation test" - to see if water drained soaked away well enough for a new soakaway. It didn't, so they had to dig up our year old patio and run a new pipe under it to connect it to the main surface water drain.

They agreed to "make good" - and to be fair, they did a good job on the patio, but the lawn has a big lump in it where the hole used to be. I signed the paperwork to say I was happy with it, but it's bugged me ever since.

Hope you get managed to get something sorted that suits you. Any news yet?

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hi everyone! Thanks for your advice. I feel much happier today.

I've taken lots and lots of photos. The chap who I spoke to on the phone came down today to take more photos. He talked to my neighbour Margaret (Dexter's Aunty Margaret) and if Margaret says hes OK, then that will do for me. The actual work will start on Thursday.

A very nice lady from the RSPB rang me this morning and said that the baby birds should be OK as the parents have a very strong feeding instinct, and as they are around 2 weeks old, they should be ready to fledge the nest any day now - lets hope its before Thursday.

OH and I have talked, and will probably ask the workmen to actually leave the turf off the bit they have dug out, so that we will have a new border along the front of the garden - well, it saves me from digging it all up! so we are considering the work as free gardening!

The only "plants" as such they will be moving will be around 400ish various bulbs in the rockery - so l hope that they will all be put back in the same place. Hopefully they won't damage any tree roots as I guess the trees were planted at the same time as the bungalow was built in 1983.

I did ask the chap for written confirmation that they would repair the damage, well, I left a message on his answer machine, but haven't heard anything since. I have his mobile and office numbers if I'm not happy with the final result.

Thanks once again everyone, as usual you have come to my rescue!

Bernie

[dexterdoglancashire]

Latest update!

Good news! the diggers havent arrived this week and the baby birds fledged (sp?) the nest this morning - noted by OH who had a baby bird fly into his chest, fall to the ground, then take off again, unharmed!
The guys can come and dig up my garden now, no probs -mind you I ain't telling them the birds have gone - well, not yet anyway!
Bernie

[yoanbob]

good news bernie, I hope it all works out, if they have too much soil after the work is done get them to leave it for you as the the excavation site will sink over time.

[Mikey]

Small suggestion, if you are freeflowing with the tea and biscuits normally you can get workmen to do something else why they are there. Whether that be moving something heavy, or extending your new border a bit, anything is poss.

Are you feeling the power of the PG.