The Street Works (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

Notice of emergency works

17.—(1) Nothing in Article 14 (advance notice), Article 15 (notice of starting date) or Article 16 (directions as to timing of works) affects the right of an undertaker to execute emergency works.

(2) An undertaker executing emergency works shall, if the works are of a kind in respect of which notice is required by Article 15, give notice as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any event within 2 hours (or such other period as may be prescribed) of the works being begun, to the persons to whom notice would be required to be given under that Article.

(3) The notice shall state his intention or, as the case may be, the fact that he has begun to execute the works and shall contain such other information as may be prescribed.

(4) An undertaker who fails to give notice in accordance with this Article commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(5) In proceedings against a person for such an offence it is a defence for him to show that the contravention was attributable—

(a) to his not knowing the position, or not knowing of the existence, of another person’s apparatus, or

(b) to his not knowing the identity or address of—

(i) a relevant authority, or

(ii) the person to whom any apparatus belongs,

and that his ignorance was not due to any negligence on his part or to any failure to make inquiries which he ought reasonably to have made.