bugger and botheration
Oct. 11th, 2006 07:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darren_strangerAs i was coming home last night, i noticed a few neighbours gathered on the street looking up at something. As i got closer i could see that they were standing outside our house and that Elaine was among them. My first thought was that one of the cats was stuck up a tree or something, though the worst case little voice was whispering about fire or other house damage.
It turns out that a truck delivering a swimming pool had brought down a cable from the front of our house, as well as one a couple of doors up. Our cable was still attached to the house and the pole across the road, but was hanging slack, drooping very low across our front yard and a little low over the street. Luckily it wasn't a power line, but looked to be either a Telstra or Optus cable. The woman two doors up had lost her phone line and had called Telstra, but we decided to call them ourselves as well (a check of the cable tv point in the lounge showed it was a Telstra one). I rang them about 7ish, told them the situation and they said they'd flag it as a dangerous downed cable and send someone out that evening. By ten, no-one had shown up, so i called again and they assured me someone would be out to fix it and that it was still flagged as a dangerous downed line. By 11 we decided we weren't going to wait up for them, so we went to bed, though i slept uneasily all night, half listening for a Telstra truck.
About 6 this morning i was finally woken by the sound of a truck outside and workmen on the lawn, and considered just staying in bed to let them do their thing. I'd just decided i probably should get up when the doorbell rang. To my surprise it wasn't the long awaited Telstra guys but police and fire brigade. Someone must have reported the downed line to them and they'd come out to investigate. The fire guys hoisted it up so it wasn't hanging so low over the street and suggested it looked like probably an Optus cable, while the police asked lots of questions and took my name before leaving. Another look around the living room found a point with an Optus logo, so i rang them to come fix or remove the line (which hopefully they've done by now).
Now i'm worried that the fire department are going to send us a bill for the call-out, and that maybe we will be held responsible for not calling them first. Plus one of the fireguys pointed out that the fronting board of the house has been partially pulled off, which we hadn't noticed last night. So now we have to go see the other neighbour and get the truck company's details to make them pay for any repairs, which is another thing to worry about if they try to weasle out of it. (The board looks like it could easily hammer back in, but i'm hesitant to do that in case there's other damage and the transport company or their insurers use that as an out).
Ah, the joys of not having a landlord to ring to fix this sort of thing.
It turns out that a truck delivering a swimming pool had brought down a cable from the front of our house, as well as one a couple of doors up. Our cable was still attached to the house and the pole across the road, but was hanging slack, drooping very low across our front yard and a little low over the street. Luckily it wasn't a power line, but looked to be either a Telstra or Optus cable. The woman two doors up had lost her phone line and had called Telstra, but we decided to call them ourselves as well (a check of the cable tv point in the lounge showed it was a Telstra one). I rang them about 7ish, told them the situation and they said they'd flag it as a dangerous downed cable and send someone out that evening. By ten, no-one had shown up, so i called again and they assured me someone would be out to fix it and that it was still flagged as a dangerous downed line. By 11 we decided we weren't going to wait up for them, so we went to bed, though i slept uneasily all night, half listening for a Telstra truck.
About 6 this morning i was finally woken by the sound of a truck outside and workmen on the lawn, and considered just staying in bed to let them do their thing. I'd just decided i probably should get up when the doorbell rang. To my surprise it wasn't the long awaited Telstra guys but police and fire brigade. Someone must have reported the downed line to them and they'd come out to investigate. The fire guys hoisted it up so it wasn't hanging so low over the street and suggested it looked like probably an Optus cable, while the police asked lots of questions and took my name before leaving. Another look around the living room found a point with an Optus logo, so i rang them to come fix or remove the line (which hopefully they've done by now).
Now i'm worried that the fire department are going to send us a bill for the call-out, and that maybe we will be held responsible for not calling them first. Plus one of the fireguys pointed out that the fronting board of the house has been partially pulled off, which we hadn't noticed last night. So now we have to go see the other neighbour and get the truck company's details to make them pay for any repairs, which is another thing to worry about if they try to weasle out of it. (The board looks like it could easily hammer back in, but i'm hesitant to do that in case there's other damage and the transport company or their insurers use that as an out).
Ah, the joys of not having a landlord to ring to fix this sort of thing.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 07:11 am (UTC)There's probably someone you can call to check anyway, if it happens.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 07:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 07:41 am (UTC)Yeah, but on the upside... You don't have a landlord!
:P
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 08:16 am (UTC)I am sure the pool company will disclaim any responsibility whatsoever, but I am a cynic like that.
I shouldn't worry about a bill for the Brigade... it's not really a false call out, and really the pool people should have done that.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 09:18 am (UTC)Doubt they'll slug you for the emergency services, but I bet there'll be arguments over the repair-bill. :(
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 11:04 am (UTC)I can imagine the truck/pool company would be a bit on the bastard side, though.
Sorry shar *hugs*.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 12:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 12:52 pm (UTC)Didn't know Mr and Mrs S bought a house!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 11:06 pm (UTC)They can charge you for a false call out (eg a malfunctioning fire alarm) and also in some other circumstances. I know one guy who lost a swarf bin from the back of his truck when going around a corner. They had to call the police out to redirect traffic and the fire brigade to hose down the road where the oily swarf had spilled, and he got a hefty bill sent to him for that.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 11:23 pm (UTC)Make sure you get the swimmy truck company details (in fact, the liability will probably lay with the swimmy company as they hired the truck).
Fix nothing, take photos, call your insurers, and pay for nothing.
In other news, there must have been something going on last night. We had a drunk guy wandering/standing in the middle of the road, singing. And then he started to disrobe.
I called the (local) cops, who found it hilarious, but promised to send a van round to pick him up.