Virgin Media picks up more street works fines in London

Transport for London (TfL) has prosecuted Virgin Media for five street works related offences. The offences took place in Wandsworth High Street, Stonecote Hill and Wickham Road between October and December 2017.

Utllities have to notify TfL of works being carried out on its road network, which includes priority ‘red routes’, so that disruption can be minimised and safety maintained. 

Virgin Media failed to provide details of the exact location, dimensions and other engineering information used in the work, breaching Street Works Regulations and causing a significant detrimental impact on the road network.

TfL therefore issued Virgin Media with a number of fixed penalty notices, which Virgin Media failed to pay within the statutory time periods, resulting in prosecution. 

On 20 June Virgin Media pleaded guilty to all five offences and the media group were fined a total of £3,000 and ordered to contribute £3,494 towards the legal costs incurred by TfL.

Glynn Barton, TfL's director of network management, said: “We work hard to keep London moving and, as part of that, we need the cooperation of utility companies. We have prosecuted Virgin Media 16 times for street works offences since 2010 and they still continue to breach the rules. We are working with Virgin Media and other utility companies to assist them with notification compliance and to ensure that road works are carried out properly, with minimal disruption to road users.”

Since 2010, Virgin Media has been fined a total of £20,000 for various street works offences.

Transport for London prosecutions against utility companies since 2010

 

Company	Number of Offences Prosecuted	% of Total Prosecutions	Total Amount Fined
BT Openreach	47	36.43%	£157,270
Virgin Media	16	12.40%	£20,000
Thames Water	13	10.08%	£16,900
Infocus	11	8.53%	£1,100
Fulcrum	9	6.98%	£7,050
UK Power Networks	9	6.98%	£37,000
Vodafone	9	6.98%	£9,390
National Grid Gas	5	3.88%	£11,000
Cable & Wireless	3	2.33%	£3,000
Cadent Gas	2	1.55%	£10,000
Abovenet	2	1.55%	£500
McNicholas (on behalf of Virgin Media)	1	0.78%	£1,665
O2	1	0.78%	£240
Southern Electric	1	0.78%	£200
Total	129	100%	£275,315