Dundee man to face reckless electricity generating charges
Charles McKenzie is accused of building a home-made generator in his flat at Dudhope Court
A Dundee man is to stand trial accused of "recklessly producing household electricity" in a 14th storey flat using a home-made generator system.
So, a 12V generator, car battery and an inverter is a "dangerous transformer assembly" and clearly illegal. I must remember that, since I have one in my car.
Perhaps storing cans of petrol in a 14th floor flat is a significant detail?
I was given the keys to a top floor flat because I needed to get into the loft to fix the TV system for the building. The council were holding the keys because the tenant was doing a short stretch elsewhere. In the loft I found a very large number of 5 litre plastic containers. There was a smell of petrol. The council had to get the fire brigade to empty the loft. The reason for the man to store the petrol remains unknown to me.
Bill
It certainly would be dangerous if you ran it inside a domestic garage with the doors shut or in your living room for a few hours.
And operating a petrol electric generator in a confined space can prove lethal in a relatively short period of time from CO poisoning. The guy is lucky to not be getting a Darwin Award instead. Presumably it made so much noise that his neighbours complained about the racket.
Inspectors then found his stash of petrol which no doubt flouts several rules about the storage of flammable liquids in the flat and totally voids his household insurance for good measure.
Reckless seems absolutely the right description to me.
Do keep up, this was aired here back in November. ;-)
The supposition then was that he had been a naughty boy and had his electricity cut off (possibly fiddling his meter) and was running a petrol generator (and storing petrol) in a multi storey flat. NOT the kind of thing you'd want happening anywhere near you.
Tim
"Mr McKenzie's make-shift system is said to have involved a fuel generator suspended from his ceiling by ropes."
Again, by that description it does sound a bit reckless...
DOn Wednesday 13 March 2013 14:12 Vic wrote in uk.d-i-y:
He was running a generator in a flat, presumably...
Isn't that usually done in cellars. Or dungeons. :-)
I want to know more about his fuel generator! Sounds like a handy gadget. ;-)
Tim
For one brief moment as I saw the subject line I thought this was about a sudden gust ramping wind generation up so fast the conventional generation had to vent steam to waste as the governors closed.
Come on many people have home made generators and even bike powered ones. Was this perhaps the location and the lease conditions rather then the actual gear concerned?
BRIAN
Some years ago, when a large fuel price hike was imminent, and there was a bit of panic buying going on, I arrived at work to find many police cars and fire engines around a nearby block of flats and the street sealed off. It transpired that a family in one of the flats decided to bulk-buy petrol before the price went up and store it in the bath. I seem to recall the story made it to the national press the next day.
A home made twelve volt generator, hanging from thin ropes in a 14th floor flat, attached to a battery, which was powering an inverter, with cans of petrol being kept in the kitchen.
Sounds reckless to me. Not to mention blooming dangerous.
The generator would have been fine in a shed. Maybe...
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
How about this guy from an earlier fuel shortage:
"Fuel hoarder sentenced
12 September 2000: Panic as the pumps run dryA TAXI driver who tried to beat the fuel crisis by storing petrol in a wheelie-bin at home was given a suspended prison sentence yesterday. Saquib Bashir, 28, caused a major alert, leading to the evacuation of 60 neighbouring properties and a £100,000 clean-up bill when fuel melted the bottom of the plastic bin and leaked into the cellar of his terraced house.
At Derby Crown Court, Bashir admitted storing petrol without a licence and in non-metal containers. He was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £1,000 costs. Bashir had stockpiled 90 litres of fuel in a wheelie-bin, a beer barrel and a cooking-oil container at his home in Normanton, Derby. Later he told trading standards officers that he had no idea that petrol was so flammable."
Chris
Can we find (and donate a kick in the nuts to) the ignorant journo who thinks that "melt" is the correct word in this context (rather than "dissolve")?
If we kicked ignorant journos in the nuts every time we notice them...
Nothing would ever be done.
He rather recklessly has not appeared in court:
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a man accused of "recklessly producing household electricity" in a 14th storey Dundee flat.
Charles McKenzie was due to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court over claims he had assembled a DIY power station.
Sheriff Eric Brown granted a warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear at court.
The 55-year-old had earlier pleaded not guilty to a charge of culpable and reckless conduct.
Owain
Is the reckless bit of the original charge just that of using a petrol(?)-powered machine inside a flat? The original report's mention of the battery & inverter & extension lead etc seems irrelevant to me.
Well at least he didn't kill anybody, unlike the poor bugger who survived being gassed on his boat in the lakes.
Tim
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