Wednesday 1 June 2011

Is the new(ish) electric fence okay?

Hi everyone,

We regular dogwalk up near Ednovean farm and we are very concerned about the electric fence which has been placed right next to the diverted public right of way. There are only 2 warnings - one at each end of the fence and a child could easily miss them. Also, the right of way is quite narrow - not good if people walking in opposite directions meet.

Can anyone advise: is it allowed to have such a fence so close to a public path? If yes, shouldn't the labelling be better?

Is there someone we can complain to officially? I am very worried that a child may get a nasty shock up there through no fault of its own; just because they want to say hello to the horses and/or run ahead of their party.other: Is the new(ish) electric fence okay?

3 comments:

  1. I received an email today with the follow information, hope it helps. Best regards, Kay

    Electric Fence Signs

    By law, all electric fences which can be accessed by the public must carry approved warning signs.

    Signs should be fixed to the fence post or to the fence line.

    They should be placed at the start and end of a fence and every 10m in between. (EU legislation BSEN 60335 revised March 2011)

    I don't know the definition of an approved sign but they are available from electric fencing manufacturers and agricultural merchants or could be copied.

    I suggest that if the signs are currently at 10m intervals, but walkers are still concerned, they could clear it with the farmer and put up some extra signs themselves. If they are not at 10m intervals it might be sensible to point this out politely to the farmer.

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  2. I am glad someone else has noticed both the narrowness of the path and the potentially dangerous nature of this fence to walkers who have right of way along here. I had to stand close to the fence to let someone else pass and was worried about being shocked. Surely this can't be right ? Thank you for the advice given above. It would seem that there definately needs to be more warnings purely from a safety point of view, and I would hope that the landowner would consider keeping the path width to the size it was when the field was cropped as a consideration to walkers using the footpath. I hope that doesn't sound difficult, I was just surprised and worried about this too.

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  3. This fence is very close to the footpath. I hope that the landowner is going to install a proper fence soon and this electric type is a temporary measure. The landowner should allow a reasonable width for people to pass each other, and should be mindful that this path already has an altered route because they wanted to protect their garden. They should have some respect for the walkers in the area - widen the path and remove the elctric nature of this fence. It's dangerous.

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