National grid electric cables blocking delivery access to my property

[OnlyOnAFriday]

For the third time this year I’ve had a delivery refused to my property due to the electric cables which run overhead along the front of my property. Sadly they’re actually over the pavement, not over my drive or it would be easier to insist they’re removed.

i can’t have anything delivered in a grab lorry. So I currently want a bulk bag of MOT delivered for a shed base and rather than one delivery of a £70 bag I’m going to have to do a million trips to B&q and the smaller sacks will cost me £280 for the same amount.

cant have logs delivered, can’t have a skip, couldn’t have a shed delivered.

i know they have to be 5.2m above ground and i think they probably are. But the grab arm needs 3m clearance so being 5.2m high up isn’t high enough to have 3m clearance.

I've complained to the National Grid, are they going to tell me to jog on?

If the trucks need higher clearance than over the pavement allows, can they not drive onto your driveway THEN do the delivery (so away from the cables?)

Can’t the delivery go on the road/pavemeng and you immediately move them?

Drive is too small for the truck to enter. I guess we could just have it put on the road but it’s a busy high st and I’ve no idea how long it will take me to shovel a big grab bag of hardcore off the road. I suspect more than a day and someone might drive into it overnight

national grid are going to ring me today to discuss so will see what they say.

Are you sure it isn’t just your phone line? I thought electrical cables went underground from your local substation to your house for your local supply. The only electrical cables I’ve seen overground are via a pylon.

No the phone lines are the other side of the road and we have one of those branching off to our house. Dh reckons it’s electrical cables and he’s an electrical engineer so hopefully he’s right 😁. They’re much thicker than phone lines. Really hoping national grid offer to bury them all underground.

We have our logs delivered in a big van with a tail lift that uses a pallet pump truck to move it off the van and into our garage. When we order, we ring them up to confirm this.

Plenty of places have above ground electricity to those questioning it, even small towns and many villages do.

For a delivery I suggest trying to hire a labourer or two so you can shovel quicker, teenagers perhaps. Cheaper and easier than b&q

I’ve got another builders merchants coming today to do a site survey to see if they’ll deliver.

the Wickes guy says he could do it no problem but he’d get the sack and it’s not worth his job. Travis perkins say the same.

the B&q guy doesn’t give a shit and told me he’ll always happily deliver but B&q need a minimum order of £100 for the grab lorry and the hardcore is only £70. I’ve told dh we will have to order two bags of hardcore as £140 will still be cheaper than the £280 small bags will cost us but he says what the hell do you do with an extra tonne of hardcore we don’t want or need. I said I’m sure someone will take it off our hands for free!

Can you find someone with a transit tipper to pick up a load/bag and tip it on your driveway ? Might be cheaper still straight from the quarry

Good idea, if this most recent builders merchants can’t help I’ll get asking around the village for someone who might have this sort of vehicle. Maybe I can pay someone to be the middle man. It’s so annoying!

what the hell do you do with an extra tonne of hardcore we don’t want or need. I said I’m sure someone will take it off our hands for free!

Put it on Freecycle (and ebay if you have an account). Someone will have it.