20th January 2025 UPDATE
The newspapers are now onto it and look at this bollocks.
A Facebook post was forwarded to me yesterday by a friend who knows I have experience in the electricity industry…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wirral/permalink/10163102362827012/?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=wz7NeexskCp8sLnI#
The knowns:
1. HV cables (red, plastic-sheathed, 11,000 volts) cannot be worked on live and need to be isolated (their power switched off) in order to remedy any faults
2. HV cables provide supplies to substations where the voltage is stepped down via transformers to create 3-phase 240 volt AC supplies to local houses, businesses, lampposts, etc.
3. When an HV cable is switched off, the power supply is lost to the substation and therefore to the supplied houses, businesses, lampposts, etc.
4. Encasing HV cables in concrete (even if you perceived this as added protection) is an absolute no-no. The act of manually excavating such a cable – live or dead – would be likely to cause further foreseeable, avoidable damage to the cable itself, which is better protected if buried in sand
The unknowns:
1. The location of the substation(s) affected
2. The location of the houses, businesses, lampposts etc. that are supplied by the affected substation(s)
3. The identity (and therefore the veracity) of the claims being made here
4. I don’t know whether HV cables can be worked on live here in the year 2026. But it wasn’t an option during my time at Manweb (1984 to 1995). In the meantime, progress has been made on overhead lines, where linesmen can now work live on HV
As a former Wirral Council whistleblower, I absolutely respect the poster’s decision not to identify himself. Any kind of unguarded transparency would be highly likely to result in him / her being separated from their livelihood, probably very cheaply and carried out in a manner which would protect the employer, i.e. extreme coercion, a sacking disguised as a ‘redundancy’ and the imposition of a non-disclosure agreement.
My initial Facebook response to this post was sent on 17th January:
Roughly 24 hours later, I’m still waiting for my post (and 3 others) to be approved …
I can no longer post because I’ve reached the ‘pending content’ limit.
What is occurring here…?
AI question asked on 20th January 2026
“Have HV cables recently been mistakenly buried in concrete on Grange Road, Birkenhead?”
There is no direct evidence in the provided search results indicating that high-voltage (HV) cables were mistakenly buried in concrete on Grange Road, Birkenhead, specifically in recent work. However, the results do confirm that cables embedded in concrete pose a significant hazard and require special handling:
SSEN (Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks) warns that electricity cables embedded in concrete must either be made safe before breaking out the concrete or an alternative safe method agreed with the cable owner. Always assume cables are live and contact the electricity network operator (via 105) if suspected.
The Merseyside town centre project on Grange Road, Conway Street, and Europa Boulevard, which began over a year ago, has been subject to delays and cost overruns, with works expected to finish by March 9, 2026. While the project involved extensive underground works, no mention is made of HV cables being incorrectly encased in concrete.
Given the scale of the construction and the risks associated with buried cables, it is highly unlikely that such a safety-critical error would go unreported. If you have concerns about specific cable locations or safety on Grange Road, contact SSEN at 105 or use the National Grid’s ‘Find a Service’ tool to locate underground utilities.
“This hasn’t gone unreported. A whistleblower who says he works for Scottish Power has gone public on Facebook to make this situation known. His contribution can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wirral/permalink/10163102362827012/?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=KVetkx8Y4ZVUo8l3#…”
A whistleblower claiming to work for Scottish Power has raised concerns on Facebook about high-voltage (HV) cables being mistakenly buried in concrete during works on Grange Road, Birkenhead, as part of the ongoing £24 million town centre regeneration project. While no official confirmation has been issued, SP Energy Networks (which operates Scottish Power’s grid) explicitly warns against encasing cables in concrete, citing risks of corrosion and long-term damage.
The Liverpool Echo has reported on major issues with the Birkenhead project, including cost overruns, delays, and a lack of transparency, with councillors acknowledging a culture where staff may have feared speaking up. A case study from SP Energy Networks confirms that concreting over underground cables—both low and high voltage—is not acceptable practice, and such work must be corrected immediately or result in costly cable diversions.
Although the specific Facebook post has not been independently verified, the claim aligns with known safety protocols and the project’s troubled history. For safety and compliance, any suspected burial of HV cables in concrete should be reported directly to SP Energy Networks at 0845 272 2424.
20th January 2025
Criminally depraved ‘Trinity Mirror’ (Reach PLC’s) Liverpool Echo have just got onto this story…!
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/scottish-power-responds-after-claim-33268599
Return to Bomb Alley 1982 – The Falklands Deception, by Paul Cardin
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