Pictures Submitted by Alan BelsonPic 1: Friend's very small holiday-house he's starting to renovate. He's retired but lives in the UK, and no, that's not my hat. He asked Poco for a new meter & their engineer requested a wooden board for meter etc., duly made in mahogany by me to engineer's spec. Crew arrived and fitted meter box alongside board. - "Board is too close to door." We explained door will be smaller. "Too late, I've already drilled my hole." (The power of a monopoly!) Poco removed old meter and fuse box. Friend got a registered 'electrician' to put in a temporary supply for builders and self, as he'll be living in a caravan this summer during the remodel. Electrician fitted a 3-phase cable with no breakers, fuses or grounding, with choc-blocs wrapped in orange builders tape, direct to the meter tails. There is NO ground rod, looks like there never was, and this is a 65A 230v supply.
Pic 2: The other end of the 3-phase cable. Again, choc-blocs and builders tape. Taken straight to the original house wiring, note unconnected ground wire. The blue marker is lining-ins for a new staircase.
Pic 3: Don't look Ethel! A light switch dangles after a stud wall is demolished, now cunningly disguised as a polythene bag. Owner did this. "I could see the copper conductors!" I still could!.
Pic 4: 13A ( 3kw ) French extension-lead receptacle wired with twin 5A ( or is it bell wire?! ). It has melted around the hot socket. It had enough slack to be dropped straight into the original wash-basin, now removed- you can just make out the original plumbers pencil marks. Even our new french plumber was horrified.