How we Monitor for Service Abuse

National One Call services operate for safety for people and protection of services.

We monitor for signs of abuse of our services for purposes other than intended, e.g. systematic stripping out of data for inclusion in other systems etc.

Where this is discovered or suspected we immediately put the entire Membership and all Users for that Membership into Denial of Service.

How we Monitor for Contents

All Service Orders are previewed by National One Call prior to release. Review can take up to 1 Working Day, during which time the Order is 'Awaiting Review'.

As well as monitoring for any obvious issues, we check for acceptability of Contents, `acceptability` being at the discretion of National One Call.

Obvious attempts at advertising / profanities / other unacceptable Content will result in a) the Order failing Review and b) potential Denial of Service to the User / Membership.

Why Asset Owner Interests can be very Complicated.

Here are just some things to be aware of about Asset Owners:

• Asset Owners you have never even heard of.
•     Not all Asset Owners are household names; that does not mean they are not there!
• Shared Service Ducts.
•     In some places several Asset Owners run their services in the same ducts as others.
• Piggy-back Service Providers.
•     Sometimes an Asset Owner is just the Billing Company; the physical service belongs to another Asset Owner.
• A Utility can be responsible for an Authority service.
•     In some parts of the UK, Authority services such as Street-lighting are actually provided by a Utility company.

These and other nuances happen throughout the UK; we account for them where possible.

Why can we only say that Asset Owners `might` be Affected?

The Area of Interest (AoI) given to us for an Asset Owner is quite general, an area within which the Asset Owner may have services. 

When you make an Enquiry we compare it against all known AoI's to find who might be Affected.

The decision whether they are `Affected` - and indeed `Not Affected` - can only be taken by the Asset Owner themselves, and for that they need to see your Enquiry.

Affected can be because of several things, all of which only the Asset Owner can decide;

• Affected due to having services within your Site.
• Affected due to having services near your Site.
• Perhaps even Affected because you need to roll heavy equipment over their services to get to your Site.

Sometimes they may wish to take further steps to protect both you and their services, e.g. have a site-meeting, send a Patrol etc.

There is no way of knowing who IS Affected without asking the Asset Owners.

What is meant by `Asset Owners`?

Asset Owners are organisations that may have services in or near an Enquiry Site.  They are:

• Utilities - Electricity, Gas, Water, Telecomms
• Authorities - Street-lighting, Traffic management, Drainage
• Pipelines - Oil, Gas, Petrochemicals etc.
• Railways - Tracks / Signalling etc.
• Specialist Reports - Mining history etc.
• SiteGuard Sites - Sites under SiteGuard protection.

We compare your Enquiry Site against the general Area of Interest (AoI) that each Asset Owner has given us, and list all known Asset Owners who might be affected.

Using your knowledge of your Enquiry Site, you select who is to be contacted for Plans.

A Digital Planning Pack from Retriever.

When a Retriever Enquiry is Complete you will receive an email containing the Plans from the Asset Owners, normally in pdf format.¹

Other Enquiry documentation is available from your Enquiries Register for you to review and print, including:

• Any textual instructions / statements / disclaimers.
• Certification of your Enquiry.
• Analysis and Documentation.
• Invoice and Account.

¹. Due to Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Plans cannot be made available online.

There is a Service Option for a Print Pack should you require hard copy.

Retriever Enquiry Options: Express

A Retriever Enquiry normally takes up to 10 working days to Complete, at which time you will receive all Plans by email.

There is an option called 'Express' to have each Plan emailed to you as it arrives rather that waiting for Completion.  We tell you how much Express would be, you decide if you need it.

Express does not speed up Enquiry completion, it delivers Plans as they are received.

You still receive your Planning Pack containing the Plans, on Completion.

See also Retriever options of Fusion Plan and Print Pack.

Retriever Enquiry Options: Printed Pack

A Standard Retriever Enquiry sends the Plans to you by email on completion, and you use your Enquiries Register for documentation; this is a `Digital Pack`.

You make your own arrangements for printing the Plans and documentation if you need hard copies.

Large sites may require larger printers than A4 (e.g. A3/A0) for some Plans

There is a Service Option with Retriever to request a `Print Pack` instead of, or in addition to, the Digital Pack; we tell you what our fee for this would be, you choose whether you want it.

You can select the number of Print Packs you require, e.g. 1 for Records, 1 for Site=2 Print Packs.

See also Fusion Plan and Express Retriever Enquiry options.

Retriever Enquiry Options: A Fusion Plan

A service option for a Retriever Enquiry is to have all Asset Owner plans put into a single drawing, a `Fusion Plan`, delivered in both CAD and pdf formats.

The price for a Fusion Plan depends on several factors, e.g. cost of a background map from Ordnance Survey which cannot always be calculated automatically.
 
If you select 'Fusion Plan' for your Enquiry we work out a price and any impact on Enquiry timescale and give you a proposal for your consideration and approval.

You still receive your Planning Pack containing each individual Plan.

See also Express and Print Pack Retriever Enquiry options.

Charges made by some Asset Owners.

Some Asset Owners make a Charge for reviewing Enquiries against their drawings and records. These generally apply whether you make a SelfPlan Enquiry or a Retriever Enquiry.

When you create your Enquiry we Estimate what these will be, based on pricing notified to us by each Asset Owner. It is only when the Asset Owner receives your Enquiry that they confirm their Actual Charge.

Our Estimates are usually spot-on, but sometimes Actuals can:

• Be Higher than Estimated (usually due to large Site-size), or
• Be Lower than Estimated (e.g. waived due to Enquirer being a registered charity).

With a SelfPlan, each Asset Owner will deal directly with you about their Charges and how to pay them.  With Retriever we come to you for approval if Higher, credit back the difference if Lower.

SelfPlan - where you do all the work for your Enquiry

A SelfPlan Enquiry is free to those who willing to do all the work themselves.  We give you your Enquiry documents and your list of Asset Owners, then you do everything that we would do for a Retriever Enquiry.

Make Contact: You get in touch with each Asset Owner in your list.

Pay Charges: Asset Owners will confirm any Charges to you; it is up to you to pay these.

Receive Responses: All Plans / Not Affected Statements / Instructions / Disclaimers etc. come directly to you.

Manage the Enquiry: Progress-chasing / Documentation / Pack compilation etc. 

We recommend you budget for 1 hour of your time per contact for a SelfPlan.

Retriever - where we do all the work for your Enquiry

A Retriever Enquiry is where you pay us an Administration Fee to conduct your Enquiry for you (compare to SelfPlan).  This is a fixed-price that will not change.

Asset Owner Charges are initially only Estimated; the Actual Charge is confirmed by each Asset Owner when they see your Enquiry.

Estimated Charges are usually spot-on but
if any Actual Charge is higher than Estimated we come to you for further approval
If any Actual Charge is lower than Estimated we credit back the difference.

With options of Express | Fusion Plan | Print Pack , we account to you for every Fee and Charge for your Retriever Enquiry.

You can see progress of your Retriever Enquiry in your Enquiries Register ('My Enquiries') which holds Enquiries for up to 2 years.

Types of Enquiry: Compare SelfPlan v Retriever

Membership Terms

Becoming a Member of National One Call is free and without obligation.

Additional Services or Service Options that may be introduced are on an opt-in basis, requiring positive action by a user holding Manager Rights.

Membership as an Asset Owner or Authority contact for Dial Before You Dig Enquiries is subject to verification by National One Call.

Privacy Policy

Service Provision relies on National One Call being able to communicate with Members, which is why we require Registration, and why we validate Registration.

We do not sell, gift or otherwise provide any party with general lists of our Registered Members or Users.

Managers can add users or even cancel Membership at any time.

Users with Manager Rights may choose to engage Services that could result in details of their Membership becoming visible to others.

If not already obvious, users should be aware that certain parties - e.g. the selected Asset Owners for Enquiries - have to be made aware of Who they are, their Site of Interest, and their Work Intention at that Site.

Membership, Users, and Retention of Data

Users with Manager Rights can add, remove, change the Rights of other users at any time.

Orders created by Users of that Membership will be retained for up to 2 years following the Order Date.

This retains the Audit Trail of the Order for up to 2 years.

Completed Orders over 2 years old cannot be accessed.

Safety Initiatives

In pursuit of Safety and Protection, National One Call  has free-to-user safety initiatives, e.g. SelfPlan PlanToDig Enquiries.

We invite our Members to support these initiatives as 'Sponsors' should they so wish.

Only a user with Manager Rights can activate Sponsorship

Sponsor details are shown on-screen by users of that service, and within documentation used to contact Asset Owners.

Security of Access

Security of Access is performed at User level, by user email address and their password.  Email addresses can only be registered once.

Users with Manager Rights can add other Users and bestow / rescind levels of rights to other Users.

Managers are reminded that only they can know if any user no longer requires access and should have their access removed.

Manager Functions e.g. Applying for Credit Facilities, are only available to users with Manager Rights; users without Manager Rights may see Membership Settings but cannot change these.

Service Availability

The National One Call system is generally available 24/7, 365.

Helpdesk is available Mon-Fri, 9am to 5pm
except for Bank / Christmas / New Year holiday days.

New or upgraded services will be introduced with minimum disruption.

Planned Outages will be notified with as much notice as possible.

Unplanned Outages, by their nature, cannot be notified.

Fair Use of Free Services

Where possible, we provide free services for safety of people and protection of services.

To ensure this is used fairly we put initial restrictions on the Number and Site-size of SelfPlan Enquiries.

Max. 1 (one) SelfPlan Enquiry per day | Max. 1km (Linear) / 25ha (Area)

These restrictions apply to the Membership, not per User.  Users with Manager Rights can apply to have these restrictions changed.

Terms of our Service Provisioning

National One Call Services operate on best information available at the time of their use.  As a Contact and Information Exchange service, we act as a conduit between parties on a good-faith basis.

Where a service relies on parties choosing to inform us of their presence and interest, no warranty is given that all possible parties have opted to do so.

We do guarantee that, where we have been made aware of these interests, our Services properly operate on that information.

Similarly, we do not warrant the accuracy of any contents, settings, statements etc. made by any party using our services.

We do however warrant that these are properly recorded and conveyed.

About Asset Owner Services

a) As Contacts for PlanToDig Enquiries.

National One Call maintains details of utilities, authorities, and pipelines and their Area of Interest (AoI). This is subject to regular verification and does not require management by Asset Owners.

Asset Owners are entitled to a free AssetGuard service for a General Area of Interest(AoI).

Asset Owners who require targeted Enquiries for specific regions can do so using SiteGuard.

b) As Enquirers using PlanToDig.

Asset Owners are welcome to register to use our PlanToDig services as `Enquirers` for obtaining plans from others, for their own planning and works purposes.

Protecting the Interests of Asset Owners as Contacts for PlanToDig.

We DO:

• Inform the Enquirer about all known potentially interested Asset Owners for an Enquiry.
• Allow the Enquirer to Select to contact all known interested parties.
• Provide the Enquirer with an Estimate of any Charge that may be incurred.

We do NOT:

• Make any decisions about Asset Owner interests.
• Issue Grey Plans under any circumstances.
• Store plans in online retrieval systems.
• Re-use Plans for other Enquiries.
• Give out email contacts.

We do not Re-issue Plans for Different Enquiries.

An Asset Owner Response is sought for every PlanToDig Enquiry.

Each Enquiry is subject to the arrangements of the Asset Owner (charge etc.)

An Enquiry is unique to the Enquirer, for their Enquiry which specifies their Enquiry Site, and Work Intention.

National One Call will never issue an Asset Owner Plan
to anyone other than the original Enquirer, specific to their Enquiry.

How we work with Asset Owner Plans.

Asset Owner plans are generally subject to at least 2 copyrights:

• 1) The owner of the Background Map (usually Ordnance Survey).
• 2) The owner of the depiction of services (the Asset Owner).

At least 1 of these copyrights will explicitly prevent the making available of the Subjects in other online systems by 3rd Parties.

National One Call does NOT retain any Plans in online systems for users to call down.

Asset Owner Interest in a PlanToDig Enquiry.

The Asset Owner Interest in an Enquiry has several facets:

• Whether the Asset Owner is 'Affected' or 'Not Affected' at the Site.
• Documentation provided in Response (plan / instructions / disclaimer etc.).
• Any further action the Asset Owner feels necessary (meeting / patrol etc.).

These decisions are made by the Asset Owner themselves on review of each Enquiry; National One Call makes no assumptions or decisions.

Grey Plans: What are they, and why they are dangerous and illegal.

A 'Grey Plan' is one that was not issued through official channels for the specific Site and Purpose of the Enquiry.

An example of this could be misuse of access rights to take plans for
onward sale to 3rd Parties, without paying Royalties to the Asset Owner.

Should there be an injury or worse, HSE will wish to discuss why the Enquirer was using Grey Plans.... and Ordnance Survey may wish to discuss breach of OS Licence with the Asset Owner.

National One Call guarantees - to both Asset Owner and Enquirer - no Grey Plans.

Myth:  A Single Depository of all Plans

There is no such thing as a single Depository of all Plans.

For reason of security / confidentiality / technologies / maintenance etc., not to mention the sheer scale that such a depository would have to be, each Asset Owner holds their own plans on their own systems.

And each Asset Owner has their own processes / procedures / rules / methods of contact etc. for getting Plans from them, and everyone must conform to each one of these.

We do this with EVERY asset owner contact for EVERY Enquiry.

Asset Owner Protection: Why we do not give out Email Addresses.

You may see other service providers listing out screeds of Email Addresses telling you how to get in touch with certain utilities etc.  We do not do that, and here are our reasons.

1) Email contacts can change very quickly.  Named people go on annual leave / new people step in; function-names too change frequently (e.g. enquiries@utilco.com becomes plans@utilco.com), often to get away from Spam emails. Which brings us on to..

2) It is unfortunate that some people only seek to harvest email addresses to send their Spam emails to... we do our best to make sure we are not the cause of advertisements for Viagra etc. being sent to Asset Owners.

Myth: Asset Owners charge for Plans

Asset Owners do not charge for Plans; they would breach their map-licence (usually Ordnance Survey) if they did.

Not all make a charge, those that do make an administration charge for searching their records; this results in either a Plan if Affected, or a 'Not Affected' statement.

Charge or not, they can only provide plans for safety and protection ( the 'Purpose'), for a specific Enquiry; this is why you give 'Work Intentions' in an Enquiry.

Plans are provided on the understanding that this Enquiry and Purpose is all they are used for. See here for more about Permitted Use.

Myth:  I can do what I like with Plans

When you receive a Plan it is already subject to copyright and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of at least 2 parties:

• The owner of the background Map (usually Ordnance Survey).
• The owner of the assets shown on the Map (the Asset Owner).

Because of this, you are defined as the 'Holder' of the Plan, never the 'Owner'.

Provided you only use the Plan for the Enquiry you made and Purpose you stated there is no problem. Anything else breaches copyright and IPR.

Myth:  Plans have a long Shelf-Life

When you receive a Plan or a 'Not Affected' statement, it is how the Asset Owner saw things at the time of your Enquiry.

Plan updates, new services, repairs, works by other Asset Owners / Authorities change things very quickly.

You will not be notified of any changes, which is why there is a Shelf-Life for Plans and Responses.

Some Asset Owners state up to 90 days validity; we recommend you work on 30 days, particularly when excavating.

Myth:  Asset Owners must give me Plans

Mainly due to their licensing agreements regarding background maps, Asset Owners are only permitted to provide plans for certain purposes - generally for safety of people and protection of services.

But they also consider security / commercial confidentiality / sensitivity of services / nature and intention of the Enquirer etc.

This is why you are asked to define your Site, who you are, and your Work Intention when requesting Plans.  It is very rare that a request for a Plan is refused but the Asset Owner has the right to take any action they consider necessary, including refusing to provide a Plan.

Myth:  Plans show services in Private Property

It is very rare that Asset Owner plans will show any services within a private property (gardens, driveways etc.).

Plans will show services at the boundary of the property, but seldom inside the boundary.

This applies to water / drainage / gas / telecoms etc.

Services within the property were put in by developers / builders etc.  To locate these you need the Plans, plus professional surveying services.

Some of our Members will be able to help with these services.

Myth:  I must ask every Asset Owner for a Plan

When you make any PlanToDig Enquiry we give you a list of all known Asset Owners with a possible interest in your Site.

The List is the same for both SelfPlan and Retriever Enquiries.

At this stage, the crucial word is possible - they are in the List because your site falls within their general Area of Interest (AoI).  You then choose who to request plans from.

If you do not choose to contact them they will not know about your Enquiry.

The decision on who to contact is entirely yours
here is a brief guide on Selecting Asset Owners.

Advice:  Selecting Asset Owner Contacts

The list of possible Asset Owner contacts for an Enquiry is identified by matching the Site against all Areas of Interest (AoI).  Some charge, many do not.  We estimate what each of their Charges will be; it is your choice of who to contact that gives the total `Estimated Charges`.

You decide who to contact based on your knowledge of the site and sheer common sense, e.g. do you ask for Plans from Railways if your site is not near a railway?

Some strange scenarios can occur, e.g. 2 water companies where one owns fresh-water but the other owns the sewerage; if you are not sure then ask them both.

Do NOT make a selection based on Charges; it costs far more to stop work / pay for repairs if you find unknown services than it would to pay their Administration Charge.

Myth:  I do not need 'Official' plans.

If you have a Plan that a) the Asset Owner does not know you have, and/or b) was provided to you or someone else for a different Enquiry or Purpose, then it is a 'Grey Plan'.

It will look correct, have copyright marks, show services, you may have paid the correct 'Charge' for it (which did not go to the Asset Owner).  And it does not stop there, see here for more consequences of Grey Plans.

Some of our competitors have been caught providing Grey Plans; we guarantee that every plan you receive through National One Call is with the full knowledge / permission of that Asset Owner.

Advice:  Consequences of Grey Plans

The very fact that you possess a Grey Plan - whether you know it to be or not - puts you in breach of copyright and IPR. Bad enough, you are open to prosecution by Ordnance Survey at the very least.

But as they were never contacted the Asset Owner did not have a chance to consider any further protection steps, e.g. request a site-meeting / send a Patrol; so if you damage their services you have no mitigation with them.

And if someone gets injured or worse then HSE will wish to discuss why you were using Grey Plans - it will not matter if you knew about it or not, the duty is yours to have `proper` Plans.

Take no chances, National One Call guarantees 'No Grey Plans'.

Advice:  Accidental Grey Plans

Grey Plans are often sourced illegally by less than scrupulous service providers and sold to you as genuine.... but you too can inadvertently generate them!

A Plan is given for a specific Enquiry, for a specific Purpose.  It also has a limited time that it can be considered OK to use, we suggest 30 days.

A classic example is if you make an Enquiry and state that the Purpose is for Planning, but then go on to use that same plan for Excavating. 

When the Purpose was Planning the Asset Owner did not need to consider any further steps (e.g. send a Patrol) because your Planning intention posed no physical threat to their services.

Then you used the same plan for Excavating...without the Asset Owner knowing that you were Excavating right on their sensitive service!

And if someone gets injured or worse then HSE will wish to discuss why you were using Grey Plans - it will not matter if you knew about it or not.

Take no chances, National One Call guarantees 'No Grey Plans'.

Myth:  Ordnance Survey Licensing

Most UK Asset Owners are licensed to use Ordnance Survey background maps to depict their services.

Their licence permits the provisioning of plans (map + assets) to Enquirers but only for specific Purposes (safety and service-protection).

As the plan is provided under the Asset Owner licence, the Enquirer (the 'Plan Holder') does not need an OS licence.

The Plan Holder must protect OS and the Asset Owner from breaches of copyright and Intellectual Property Rights(IPR).

Untruth:  'We get plans in 1 Day'

Asset Owners work to a 10 working-day turnaround. 
1-Day requires permitted access to their Plans system.

Very few Asset Owners give such access; it would be a very unique Enquiry that happened to need plans just from these Asset Owners!  'Grey Plans' might increase this by 1 or 2.

If you fall for this you will pay a premium price, only to find out 'there has been a problem with a number of Asset Owners, not our fault; see SmallPrint Clause 98..'.

We can get some plans in 1 Day, but not all.  Nor can anyone else.

Untruth:  'We have Special Arrangements with Asset Owners'

This is supposed to make you think that Asset Owners give their Enquiries special treatment.

Variations on the theme include 'faster turnarounds' / 'better details' / 'lower charges'.

Asset Owners treat all Enquiries in the same way, give the same plans to the same specification, take the same time, and - if they do charge - make the same charge.

We are not treated any differently either.

Untruth:  'Our Standard Pack is all you Need'

Advertising 'Enquiries from £50' or even less, this is a sales ploy to mask a poor service.

Offering 3 generically named utilities of 'Gas', 'Water', 'Electricity', plus the virtually omni-present 'BT Openreach'; wow, this is easy as well as cheap, tick them all.

As you head to checkout you are presented with a massive list of named asset owners, many of which are probably nowhere near your Site, most with a charge, and you are invited to 'Select Optional Contacts'. You have to guess who the Asset Owners might be - because they cannot tell you!

You have to guess which 'Gas', 'Water', and 'Electricity'...
'... and which other non-BT Telecoms might be at your Site...
.... so for safety you tick away, just in case ...
and your £50 Enquiry is now £900 and climbing.

So much for a 'Standard' £50 Enquiry!

Untruth:  'Fixed Price Enquiries..'

Designed to draw you in as an 'easy option'  It will not work in your favour.

Your Enquiry will either be:

• Restricted to a few Asset Owners - then you are given `optional` contacts, or
• Loaded with all Asset Owner charges to ensure a fixed-price..with a little extra on top...

You may only find out who was contacted when the Enquiry is finished, but strangely they will not itemise any charges.

We tell you who may be Affected and how much they charge..
your selection determines the Estimated Enquiry Price..
..but you only pay the Actual Price, which we fully account to you.

Untruth:  'No Asset Owner Charges with us'

Asset Owner charges are a fact of life, and they apply to everyone, no exceptions, no 'mates-rates'.

So how can someone claim 'No Asset Owner Charges'?

1. Hide them in their Enquiry Price, and/or
2. Use Grey Plans.. and keep the money

We itemise every Asset Owner charge, and also tell you what our fees are.

Untruth:  'What we Quote is what you Pay'

Designed to give comfort about the Enquiry Price, especially for Charges.

Charges can change, up or down, e.g. up for larger sites, or down if an Asset Owner that normally charges waives their charge for some reason.

They will have a clause to cover 'unforeseen costs' for higher charges, but if the actual charges are lower or even waived, this is not returned to the Client.

We Estimate charges at the beginning and tell you our Estimate. 
If Actual is higher we seek further authorisation, if lower we credit back the difference.

Untruth:  'We know about every UK Asset Owner'

If only it were possible!

NOBODY can possibly know about every Asset Owner in the UK.

New companies, Areas of Interest changes, mergers, procedure / policy / contact changes, out-sourcing etc. all affect things.

To keep as up to date as possible takes a combination of being notified, observation, research, monitoring, and of course by simply asking.  This is how we do it.

Many of our competitors use our service to compare their own contact lists.

Untruth:  'We are PAS128 Compliant'

PAS128 is a British Standard for Surveying when Utilities are present in a Site.

While it is not strictly an Untruth, PAS128 Compliance only goes so far, i.e. Utilities.

But what about non-utility plans; pipelines, street-lighting, drainage and gullies, traffic lights / sensors, railways etc?

Some are potentially lethal, all expensive to repair if damaged.

As we also get these we are PAS128-Plus Compliant - always have been.

Myth:  I can begin work once I have Plans

Obtaining Plans is just the start of a Process

The healthy way to consider every Asset Owner plan is 'best information available at the time'; they are not 'As-Built' plans.

If you are at a Planning stage then this may suffice, but you must Verify before you commit to build or excavation.

Work in public streets etc. requires a Licence or Permit from the local Authority, who will demand to see that plans were obtained.

NEVER excavate based on Plans alone!!

Verifying what Plans tell you.

To proceed to the next stage of your project you must verify what the Asset Owner(s) have told you.

This applies to both Plans and any other responses you receive, including any 'Not Affected' statements.

Verification requires on-site review of Plans v Reality; it is not uncommon for these to be very different.

You will find specialist surveyors in our InSite Sponsor Network.

Misleading Claims:  'Our Clients Include..'

Service Fails: 'Contact us for a Quote'

Service Fails: 'Price for this Region..'

When a Service Provider Quotes for an Enquiry in a Region.

Misleading Claims: 'Lowest Price..'

Claims like 'Lowest Price..' / 'Cheapest Available..'

Profit over Safety

National One Call gives a free SelfPlan service to those willing to do all the work themselves.

We give this because we are driven by safety, not by profit.

If your only choice with Others is to either pay their Enquiry price or work without plans, they clearly value their own profit way above your safety.

We do offer a Retriever service to do it all for you, but the choice is entirely yours.

Commonly Believed Myths about Asset Owner Plans

Drawing on 30 years experience of doing this for utilities / authorities / pipelines, National One Call began offering this service for everyone to use, in 2007.

Even experienced users can hold the wrong opinions of how thing actually work.

We have compiled a list of the most commonly held 'Myths' about Asset Owner plans.

Untruths told by Others

In 2007, National One Call pioneered the PlanToDig service in the UK that everyone could use. 

We called on 30 years experience of doing exactly this for utilities, authorities and pipelines, the 'Asset Owners'.

Since then a number of others have tried their hand thinking 'what a good idea'.

To drive up their sales, many make holy-grail claims about their service or prices to draw you in.  If you fall for these you will be disappointed or out of pocket - most likely both of these things.

Many of their sales claims are patently Untrue - we explain why.

Misleading Claims

Like any sales-driven organisation, some of our competitors make marvellous sweeping claims about their service.

But what underlies these claims?

We turn the spotlight of reality onto them for you.

Service Fails by Others

You can tell a lot about a service simply by looking at their arrangements and how they work.

Here are some things to check for, and what they mean to you, the potential Client.

Service Fails: No Online Register

An online Register is where you can see your Enquiries

Service Fails:  No Price Breakdown

Service Fails:  Poor Documentation

Restrictions on what can be done with Plans.

Plans that are provided by Asset Owners come with a number of restrictions on what can be done with them.

One of these restrictions is that they cannot be placed in online retrieval systems other than those of the Asset Owner, which is why neither National One Call nor any other plan-obtaining service can make them available online.  Instead, we send them to you by email or post.

We retain manual copies of plans and responses for the duration of the time that your Enquiry is in your Enquiries Register and we can supply copies if need be; but remember too that plans have a limited Shelf Life for practical use.

Untruth: 'You are Ready to Dig when we get you the Plans'

NEVER EXCAVATE BASED ON ASSET OWNER PLANS ALONE!

Asset Owner Plans and Responses should be best treated as 'Best Information Available at the Time of the Enquiry', never as 'As Built' plans.  You are asking for trouble otherwise.

Only on-site verification through survey techniques / trial-pits etc. can give you sufficient confidence to begin to excavate, and even then Safe Digging practices must be employed at all times.

Another factor is time itself; the older the plans are, the more inaccurate they are likely to be due to works by the Asset Owner or indeed other Asset Owners at the site.

Welcome to National One Call

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