VX Fiber Fined After Stoke-On-Trent Disruption

Stoke-on-Trent City Council fines VX Fiber for various breaches, including starting works in Leek Road without even asking permission.

00:28 17 June 2022

Gigabit broadband firm VX Fiber has been recently hit with £2,460 of roadwork fines for various breaches, including starting works in Leed Road without even asking permission. 

 

The firm, which is currently in the process of building a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across Staffordshire city of Stoke-on-Trent, has been criticised by residents due to the disruption, noise and debris caused by the works to install broadband cables. 

 

Dan Jellyman, cabinet member for regeneration at the city council, said: "These fines show the value of being a permitting authority. When issues like this happened before, we weren't able to do anything about it, but now we have this stick to use against utility companies.

 

"And we will also be publishing our roadworks league table at the end of the year, naming and shaming the worse companies. The fact that VX Fiber have received fines totalling more than £2,000 in just one week doesn't bode well for them.

 

"The whole point of being a permitting authority is to drive more responsible behaviour by utility companies. It can be a real nuisance, especially when a company like VX starts works without even asking permission. We made them fill in the hole, which meant more work for them, and they had to pay the fine as well, so this sort of thing is hitting them in the pocket."