Thames Water has been fined £100,000 for four safety related offences committed on the Transport for London (TfL) road network.
Thames Water engineers deemed to have carried out unsafe street works in London
TfL brought the claim against Thames Water in relation to offences carried out in October and November 2019. The works in question took place on the Purley Way, Eltham Road and West Hill.
Money from prosecutions will be reinvested in projects to improve the TfL road network.
In October 2019 on West Hill, Thames Water failed to adequately sign, light and guard its work site, or provide people walking and cycling with adequate alternative routes to pass the site.
Thames Water then repeatedly failed to adequately rectify the problem when notified by TfL, resulting in the site’s safety deteriorating further, causing additional danger to members of the public.
Similar problems were found at Eltham Road, also in October 2019, with further danger caused by a vehicle being parked across the footway, which forced people to walk further into the road, requiring traffic to move into adjacent lanes of oncoming traffic, which could have caused a head-on collision.
Thames Water also failed to provide details of the exact location, dimensions and other engineering information used in the work on the Purley Way, breaching Street Works Regulations and causing a significant impact on the road network.
TfL director of network management Glynn Barton said: “We work hard to keep London moving and, as part of that, we need the cooperation of utility companies.
“Ensuring roadworks are safe is vital to keeping people walking, cycling and using the road network safe, which is why we prosecuted Thames Water for breaching these important safety rules.
“We are working with Thames Water and other utility companies to ensure that roadworks are carried out properly, safely and with minimal disruption to road users and the company makes significant improvements.”
A Thames Water spokesperson added: “We recognise we did not meet the high standards we and our customers expect on these occasions and we’re sorry for the inconvenience this caused.
“Ensuring the health and safety of our staff, customers and the locations where we work is one of our highest priorities and it’s an area we continuously seek to improve and embed within our company.”