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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Emily Johnson & Bradley Jolly

'Our Eurovision party plans were RUINED after our street was dug up on the day'

A fed-up couple say their Eurovision party was RUINED because contractors were digging up their road "without a letter or a note" to warn them.

Julie and Phil Bainton were furious at the work, which disrupted their family barbecue that had been arranged to celebrate Eurovision on Saturday night.

The couple noticed contractors marking yellow lines outside of their property last Thursday morning, and the next day they arrived with vans and a digger. The work to install cables continued throughout Friday and Saturday, Hull Live reports.

"I had a lot of family coming over and I'd already prepared the food," Julie, 58, said.

The contractors dug up their road 'without a letter or a note' to warn residents in Hull (Richard Addison/MEN Media)

"We were planning to sit outside because I have a lovely new garden but just listen to that noise. The drilling had been going on since 8am and it was far too noisy to have guests over.

"I wouldn't have bothered organising it."

Other residents on the cul-de-sac in Northfield, Hull, were angered by the lack of communication by Hull Fibre, who contracted MS3 Network to install cables.

Julie's 60-year-old husband Phil, who was upset with access issues, said: "It would have taken 20 minutes on Thursday morning to knock on our doors to let us know what would be happening and it would have gone a long way.

"Now we're struggling to get off the drive because the roadworks are being done right outside of our property."

One neighbour said: "I've never even heard of Hull Fibre and haven't had a letter or note. It's been a bit of an inconvenience and it would have been nice to know that I needed to move my car."

Another added: "I thought it was the council here to do the drains until they dug the road up. It was absolute chaos on Friday night and I'm a little concerned at how they will put the block paving back."

Hull Fibre infrastructure was implemented by contractors from MS3 Networks (Richard Addison/MEN Media)

Hull Fibre said it would be down to the contractors to advise people living on the cul-de-sac about the disruption.

Under national law, telecoms operators are not obliged to engage directly with residents about installing such infrastructure. Councils also have no power in authorising or blocking these works.

Despite residents denying they had notification, contractor MS3 said it has a team dedicated to notifying neighbours. Guy Miller, CEO of MS3 Network said: "MS3 apologises for the disruption caused by the street works for the residents of The Groves earlier this month.

"We always try to minimise the disruption that street works bring to residents, although we do hope residents appreciate that it cannot be completely avoided all the time. Our community engagement team delivers letters and other informational resources to properties that will be affected by the street works at three months and one month prior to work beginning, and street signage and further leaflets the week that work begins at the location.

"We also provide contact information for residents to discuss the street works further with a member of the team at MS3 if they have any concerns.

"However, it’s also important to note that the short-term disruption that street works cause is an essential part of our work to bring faster speeds, greater reliability and a greater choice of broadband provider to residents in Hull. Laying full fibre cables is essential to rolling out the network, and the work MS3 is doing is saving Hull residents an average of £180 a year on their broadband."

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