Utility company handed down London's largest ever fine for mismanaging roadworks

Fined: the company was penalised for carrying out roadworks without permission
Magic Car Pics/REX/Shutterstock
Hannah Al-Othman11 September 2016

An energy company has been handed down the largest ever fine on record for carrying out roadworks in the capital without a permit.

Transport for London (TfL) successfully prosecuted energy company London Power Networks, a subsidiary of UK Power Networks, after road works sparked disruption in Westminster.

London Power Networks’ offences, including two counts of carrying out work without a permit and a further two counts of failing to serve the required statutory streetworks notices before beginning work, followed schemes undertaken in Bressenden Place and Lower Grosvenor Place on February 9.

Appearing before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, London Power Networks pleaded guilty to the offences and the company was fined £10,000 for each count of working without a permit, the highest level ever imposed in London to date for a single streetworks offence.

For failing to serve statutory streetworks notices the company was fined a total of £4,000, which resulted in an overall fine of £24,000.

London Power Networks was also ordered to pay £3,722 in prosecution costs.

In passing sentence, the Judge said: "I have seen a number of these cases and I remain unclear why large organisations such as London Power Networks continue to undermine regulations put in place to reduce inconvenience to road users when conducting streetworks.

"There is no acceptable excuse in my view and I hope the sentence passed today reflects that.”

TfL has prosecuted London Power Networks for five previous offences since 2014 and issued more than 1,650 Fixed Penalty Notices, 167 of which were within the last year.

Including this latest offence, the company has been ordered to pay a total of £37,000 in fines for mismanaging streetworks since 2014.

Speaking after the hearing, Garrett Emmerson, TfL’s Chief Operating Officer for Surface Transport, said: “Not providing these notices impacts on our ability to successfully coordinate streetworks and we will continue to push for the toughest penalties possible for utility companies caught acting unlawfully.

"We are committed to keeping London’s roads as clear as possible preventing unnecessary traffic build up, which disrupts people’s daily commute and worsens air quality.”

TfL said the fine was the largest ever imposed in London for a single streetworks offence.

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: "We pleaded guilty to two failures to obtain a permit before carrying out works on the highway and two failures to give notice of works at Bressenden Place and Lower Grosvenor Place, London on February 9.

"We very much regret the inconvenience experienced by road users which was the result of a very unfortunate clerical error.

"We take our statutory obligations seriously and have added new, improved measures to the thorough processes that we have in place for managing around 20,000 excavations we undertake every year."

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