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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 5:41 pm 
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I'm guessing that the ride-on-mower operator probably was rushing the job then CLANG, column falls over with the idiot who crashed into it just leaving the damaged item on the verge without any care over the damaged that they have caused.

Still it could have been worse.

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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 12:41 am 
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Yes. At the end of the day it was just a car that got damaged and nothing or nobody else.
It looks like the column has fractured and split at the bollard near the top of the gear chamber - whether there may have been a hairline crack there before the incident that was made worse by a small impact, or the mower driver whanged the column pretty hard I don't know.

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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:44 am 
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I had been meaning to reply to this thread sooner, but I had forgotten where I was storing my photos. Edinburgh still has a large amount of ageing concrete stock, some of which find the freezing Scottish winters very taxing. A sizeable chunk of the stock is gradually spalling away. One such street, Eton Terrace, had 15ft CU stock dating for the early 60s (or possibly late 50s) and many columns were in an alarming state of spalling, but none worse than column EFY7, which had two enormous concrete splits the entire length of the column. This street, along with its neighbours, had its entire lighting replaced by designer Sugg stock a few years ago, but not before one of the old columns failed and fell onto a car, but less than a year after (this I learned from my great aunt who lives nearby). Google Street view caught Eton Terrace a matter of months prior to the new lighting going in, this I've deduced because EFY7 is missing, and has been casually replaced by steel 5m column in grey primer.

I had mentioned on StreetlightingUK and Edinburgh Streetlighting that City Of Edinburgh Council were extremely lucky that nobody was hurt in the incident or that no-one was in the car that broke the column's fall, and should take the tragedy that happened in London as huge wake up call to stop neglecting their streetlighting. I took three photographs of the split column in Eton Terrace to email to the Council's streetlighting department because I was so shocked by it. That was in 2005. I received an acknowledgement email back, but otherwise it was a dead letter. I have attached my photos of column EFY7 to this post.
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File comment: Dangerous CU Edinburgh (1)
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File comment: Dangerous CU Edinburgh (2)
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File comment: Dangerous CU Edinburgh (3)
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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 2:15 am 
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Location: Cleveleys nr Blackpool
:shock: That is one of the worst-condition columns I've ever seen, an accident waiting to happen. The fact they didn't act on your e-mail was very foolish as was proven later, sadly too late. Must have cost them a bit of money to pay compensation to the car's owner!

It seems most councils maintain their columns quite well but I can think of one area that is full of spalling concretes and that is Sheffield (as seen elsewhere on here). Lighting maintenance in Sheffield is actually dire, the amount of dayburning lanterns they have is unbelievable! Lucky for them they now have a PFI really!

My local area is full of ancient concretes but most are sleeved and even the ones that aren't (generally 80s and 90s columns) are in top condition. If not they get replaced. There are always some that slip through the net though, like this. I only noticed this the other day but as it's on Google SV it's obviously been in this condition for at least 18 months. All it needs is sleeving really and indeed other similar columns on this road were sleeved a while back.


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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 3:50 am 
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You should see a couple round the corner from me, in New Lane. Last year, a column by the end of Geldof Road got replaced, but it's siblings carried on despite some irregularities.
Anyway, new columns are up alongside the columns in question now... and not a monent too soon, as one has split at the bracket join, the split is heading downwards and the two pieces of concrete are getting further and further apart.

granted, they're not as bad as the edinburgh example.

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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 2:05 am 
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I thought it was a legal requirement that lighting columns were tested for structural safety at regular intervals or is this not the case?


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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 8:17 am 
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No legal requirement, just a cursory visual inspection carried out - which often isn't. A proactive lighting contractor would also perform a full electrical inspection and test say at 5-7 year intervals. Again few seldom do.


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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 6:54 pm 
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I remember a few years back, when a concrete column spalled and was rotating in the wind, to prevent this the council just attached 2 lengths of wood secured to the column and bracket with steel bands, it stayed like that for a good few years then was replaced with a 6m green (as it is the colour for Derwenstide area) column with a ZUX1 on top. There are very few concretes left in this area, and virtually no main road concretes, apart from Shotley Hospital, and these are falling into disrepair so I cant see them lasting much longer. Some of the double arm ones have severe cracks in them. Two of the columns were replaced by 8m steel columns with Iridiums.


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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:49 am 
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Back in the 90s on one of my regular college free-period wanderings I noticed a concrete column with a severely-spalled bracket on a main road within a busy shopping area. I was so worried I kept thinking about it and in the end when I got home (no mobile phone then) I phoned Blackpool Council and reported the defective column. I was told it would be attended to asap. A few days later there was a story in the local paper about a woman who was walking her kids to school when a streetlight came crashing down in front of them. Yep it was the spalled concrete bracket I had reported!  :shock: Just goes to show how badly that could have turned out if that family had left school just a few seconds later that day.


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 Post subject: Re: Lamppost falling
PostPosted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:00 am 
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Also probably a lesson for councils to be on top of any call-outs such as yours. If somebody reports a defect, it should really have been looked at by an operative within 48 hours.
Over here, Amey tend to go out to any safety-critical call outs (including if a column looks like it's close to failing, or road traffic accidents) normally in less than 6 hours of the report, but usually no more than 24 hours - which, in a recent article I read, put York near the top of the list for rapid response.

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