A truly fascinating video of an incredible place. After 30+ years on the GPO & then BT the fact that half the lights were left on in the areas you went into didn’t surprise me, but I was amazed that you met no-one during the tour. The equipment room would have been a very unpleasant environment when it was operational as that old Strowger equipment was pretty noisy and gave off quite a bit of heat with that number of racks. BT are H&S obsessed so access is never going to happen to the public.
Yep I agree H&S means no more visits to this underground system. Plus some of the access routes are now no longer BT populated buildings. Back in the 90's I was able to go down when ever I wanted. This night myself and a colleague were the only people down there at around 6pm. During the day you would expect EL&P and maybe jointers / transmission to be operating in the facility but at 6pm its just myself and the rats. There's no chance of any return.
Regards access now I don't even think BT employees could get down there due to perceived safety risks except for maintenance purposes. I was advised by a fellow BT EL&P employee a few years back that during the decomisionng asbestos got disturbed making it unsafe for a time. This has no doubt been stabilised now however the health and safety risks as they are mean that BT could not afford to let anyone down for fear of accident or litigation. IMO that is.
Wow, I wanna go. By the way, there's this wierd huge steel trap door in M21 and, according to local hearsay they're entrances to A bomb 'observer' bunkers. Do you think this might be true or just bs?
A truly fascinating video of an incredible place. After 30+ years on the GPO & then BT the fact that half the lights were left on in the areas you went into didn’t surprise me, but I was amazed that you met no-one during the tour. The equipment room would have been a very unpleasant environment when it was operational as that old Strowger equipment was pretty noisy and gave off quite a bit of heat with that number of racks. BT are H&S obsessed so access is never going to happen to the public.
follytowers 11 months ago
Yep I agree H&S means no more visits to this underground system. Plus some of the access routes are now no longer BT populated buildings. Back in the 90's I was able to go down when ever I wanted. This night myself and a colleague were the only people down there at around 6pm. During the day you would expect EL&P and maybe jointers / transmission to be operating in the facility but at 6pm its just myself and the rats. There's no chance of any return.
hogshawrabbits 11 months ago
you not a bt employee? i tried gainin access to this place a few times but cant !!!!!
shambl3s 1 year ago
@rightfredsdead Thanks, btw it felt like it, we had nightmares as kids. And adults couldn't really sooth our worries.
bluenail90 1 year ago
Regards access now I don't even think BT employees could get down there due to perceived safety risks except for maintenance purposes. I was advised by a fellow BT EL&P employee a few years back that during the decomisionng asbestos got disturbed making it unsafe for a time. This has no doubt been stabilised now however the health and safety risks as they are mean that BT could not afford to let anyone down for fear of accident or litigation. IMO that is.
hogshawrabbits 1 year ago
Wow, I wanna go. By the way, there's this wierd huge steel trap door in M21 and, according to local hearsay they're entrances to A bomb 'observer' bunkers. Do you think this might be true or just bs?
bluenail90 1 year ago