Re: Closest I've had to that ....
Had the opposite of that, when NTL came along and dug up our street to lay the cableducts for the internet connections, they managed to collapse the side of the access to the stopcock outside our front gate when they backfilled the trench and rammed it. Some time later I wanted to replace the indoor stopcock as it was leaking and wouldn't shut off completely, so I opened the cast iron lid of the outdoor stopcock, to be met with a solid layer of clay. I dug down through the clay, hoping to be able to reach the cock and turn it off, but halfway down I encountered the outside of the concrete lining of the pit, lying across the hole above the cock. Both ends of the pipe section were buried in the clay either side, so I had to call the water company out to replace the whole issue, stopcock and liner, before I could turn it off and replace my own internal stopcock.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
