The owner of a Nottinghamshire pub says the building was put at risk of exploding due to its electricity being bypassed. National Grid was called out to the Lark Nest in Nuthall on January 23 after painters told owner Sham Johal there was smoke coming from the meter.
The tenant at the time said he had no knowledge of the bypasses, saying he had not been to the property for “a long time”. Engineers found three bypasses at the site, identifying them as fire risks, before disconnecting the property and making it safe later that day. Nottinghamshire Police said they were making inquiries.
Mr Johal said he had been left to "pick up the pieces" at the pub, paying more than £1,000 for the repair work. "It’s messed up everything," the 44-year-old from Doncaster told Nottinghamshire Live.
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“It was melting the meter, workers told me it could have blown the property up. There are four tenants above the pub who had their safety put at risk."
Mr Johal said he had not had heard directly from the tenant, who he bought the pub from in 2017 before renting it back to him, since December. The pub in Larkfield Road was due to change hands on February 3.
Trudi Anderson, who was due to take over, said: "Sham was going to help me get everything I wanted for the pub.
"I had the internet in place but I had to cancel that straight away. We are going to see what happens once everything is up and running. I still want it but I’m not sure what the electricity bills will be.
“I wanted to take it over and run it my way, it was something to look forward to, I’ve been out of work since October. They’ve left us in a right mess.”
The tenant denied having any knowledge of the bypasses. Inspector Sam Birch, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Officers were called to Larkfield Road, Nuthall, at around 1.30pm on Monday (13 February), after receiving reports a property had lost access to electricity.
“Inquiries are ongoing to establish why this happened, so we’d ask anyone with information to call the police on 101, quoting incident 345 of 13 February 2023.” A spokesperson for National Grid said: "We attended the site on January 23. Three bypasses were found and our engineers on site told the landlord that these illegal connections were a fire risk. We disconnected the supply outside of the property and the property was made safe on January 23. The reconnection of supply took place on February 13.
"We would like to advise that bypassing the meter is a very dangerous activity as it involves voltages of live electricity that can kill. Anyone attempting to bypass meters are putting their lives at risk as well as lives of our engineers who have to repair and replace equipment and wiring that may have been left in an unsafe condition. Similarly, it can also endanger the lives of those living at or visiting the property."
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