New Roads and Street Works Act 1991

141 Liability for damage or loss caused

(1) An undertaker shall compensate—

(a) the road works authority or any other relevant authority in respect of any damage or loss suffered by the authority in their capacity as such, and

(b) any other person having apparatus in the road in respect of any expense reasonably incurred in making good damage to that apparatus,

as a result of the execution by the undertaker of road works or any event of a kind mentioned in subsection (2) below.

(2) The events referred to in subsection (1) are any explosion, ignition, discharge or other event occurring to gas, electricity, water or other thing required for the purposes of a supply or service afforded by an undertaker which—

(a) at the time of or immediately before the event in question was in apparatus of the undertaker in the road, or

(b) had been in such apparatus before that event and had escaped therefrom in circumstances which contributed to its occurrence.

(3) The liability of an undertaker under this section arises—

(a) whether or not the damage or loss is attributable to negligence on his part or on the part of any person for whom he is responsible, and

(b) notwithstanding that he is acting in pursuance of a statutory duty.

(4) However, his liability under this section does not extend to damage or loss which is attributable to misconduct or negligence on the part of—

(a) the person suffering the damage or loss, or any person for whom he is responsible, or

(b) a third party, that is, a person for whom neither the undertaker nor the person suffering the damage or loss is responsible.

(5) For the purposes of this section the persons for whom a person is responsible are his contractors and any person in his employ or that of his contractors.

(6) Nothing in this section shall be taken as exonerating an undertaker from any liability to which he would otherwise be subject.