Dangerous Cable installation on street

[alexrutherford]

I just moved into a property and the previous tenants had VM. The cable into the house comes inexplicably from the pavement on the street outside, through a piece of stone on the driveway in such a way that the cable is exposed and dangerous. I tried getting some support through the chat function and being omn hold on the phone line for 45m but didn't get anywhere. I am posting this in the hope that someone from VM can get back to me about having this removed (I will go with Truespeed who uses a different entry point).

[goslow]

In its original arrangement it looks like the kerbstone should have been standing upright in the hole in the ground like the one next to it, in which case the cable would be passing through the kerbstone horizontally and would be less of a problem. The cable coming out of the ground would presumably have been buried under the stones too.

VM sometimes offers to remove cables which are an obvious H&S problem. Often VM declines to do anything about removing cables from old, unused installations.

One of the VM forum team should reply here within a few days and will pass judgement for you!

[-tony-]

you might get VM to do something - dont hold your breath though - weeks could very well turn into months and even longer - give them a reasonable time once they get to the thread and reply - say a week - if you then want to find some wire cutters and remove it its perfectly safe 

[Adduxi]

Yes, agree about the kerbstone.  A couple of minutes with a trowel would sort it out. Otherwise be ready for the long haul around getting this fixed.  As noted by @-tony-  there is no electrical danger from this cable, so it's safe to bury yourself, if you so choose.

[alexrutherford]

Thanks a lot for all the advice. I know I could tidy it up myself but fundamentally the whole connection is not needed and is quite ugly! I am reluctant to cut it myself, I feel that it's the property of VM and I shouldn't do that!

[goslow]

A VM forum team member should reply here eventually. While waiting, read through this past topic about an unwanted VM wall box and cable

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Removal-of-virgin-box/td-p/5419216

and the reply on the topic from the VM forum team

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Removal-of-virgin-box/m-p/5419517#M237935

Depending on what response you get to your own query, you can then decide what to do.

Also worth double checking exactly where the cable goes to and what properties it serves as it is not uncommon to find VM sometimes piggy-backs a new connection for a neighbour off an existing cable nearby to avoid running in a new piece of cable.

[Sabrina_B]

Hi @alexrutherford 👋.

thanks for reaching out to us and welcome to the Community Forums. We can certainly assist you, we would need to bring you in for a private message to discuss this and resolve. 

Please look out for the envelope on the top right of your web browser or if you are using a mobile device, it will be located under your profile icon.
 

Thanks.
 

Sabrina