BT fined over unsafe practices in Putney

Telecoms giant BT has been ordered to pay over £8,000 in fines and court costs after magistrates were told its contractors had put the public at risk from its unsafe working practices. The telecoms giant was prosecuted by the council’s highway team after a site inspection revealed that residents and visitors to Florian Road in Putney were put at risk of injury and damage to their property by the company’s “cavalier attitude” to public safety.

The company pleaded guilty in court to highways safety offences and was ordered to pay a total of £8,300 in fines and costs. The court heard that contractors working for the company to replace a telegraph pole had failed to properly cordon off the works site and its heavy machinery, some of which was on the road surface next to parked cars. This poses a risk of damage to residents’ property.

“I approached the operatives undertaking the work,” the council’s highways inspector said in his witness statement, “and explained the reason for my visit. I informed them that the site set up was dangerous, and that they were putting pedestrians and themselves at risk by working on the public highway without adequate safeguarding around the works area.”