Removal of internal cable

[DAV2024]

Virgin

My builders have recently completed an extension to my house where they have left your cable running through a new part of the attic internally.

As the cable is inside the house and exposed, there appears a serious health and safety issue.

Could one of your agents contact me directly please to remedy. 

I await hearing from you. 

[MOD EDIT: Post split to create own thread]

[jpeg1]

This is primarily a user forum, so you won't get a direct answer. A staff member may pick this up in time to pass a message.

Is the cable feeding your own or a neighbour's broadband connection?  If not you can just remove it yourself, it carries no harmful voltages.

If it does provide your broadband and you want it moved to a different route, there is a fixed charge of £25 for the service.

[Matthew_ML]

Hey DAV2024, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community I am sorry to hear this.

Please can you attach some photos so we can take a look at this? 

Also is it just inside, nothing is outside? 

[DAV2024]

Hi 

Thanks for the reply. The cable runs to all of my neighbours right and left of my house. I have followed it down each side to at least 12 or more houses. I believe its connected to about 60 houses in total. 

It runs in the new extension of my house in the attic. 

I will need to speak to someone sooner rather than later as it is a safety concern for me and my family. 

I have previously reported the issue to your phone teams who confirmed i would be called back but never was. 

I would prefer not to, but I will take matters into my own hands if I can't get some substantive response/communication and action. 

Thank you

[goslow]

Sounds like an unusual situation.

Out of interest, how did this cable serving multiple properties come to be run through your house in the first place? Was it something you in inherited when you moved in?

[jpeg1]

In the absence of any pictures, it sounds as if the cable originally ran along the outside of the houses, and an extension to this house has been built around it. 

It would perhaps have been better if VM had been asked to move the cable before the building works were done.

The cable will not be a safety hazard, unless perhaps by tripping. 

[nodrogd]

Without photos it’s hard to tell, but that would be one hell of a thick coax to run 60 houses. I’m guessing this is actually a very old disused Rediffusion/British Relay installation. This was a multicore cable that was daisy chained from house to house under the eaves. If it is, it’s a 1st generation 1960s installation & it’s nothing to do with Virgin or their predecessors, who only started up in the 1990s with a completely different distribution method. Most of these installations were offloaded to local authority control when Granada TV rentals pulled the plug on them in the mid 1980s & haven’t been live since.

[nodrogd]

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@jpeg1 wrote:

It would perhaps have been better if VM had been asked to move the cable before the building works were done.

The cable will not be a safety hazard, unless perhaps by tripping. 

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It sounds like the OP has already reported it. No doubt VM have turned up, ascertained it’s not their infrastructure & walked away. This is an old analogue 4 channel 1st gen relay cable, I’d put money on it.

[jpeg1]

Sounds very likely. A couple of photos would confirm one way or another. 

[DAV2024]

Yes - that's what happened; it ran on the outside, and they built around it.