Homeowner came back to his property to find a 30-foot broadband pole planted in his front garden- and it’s blocked the view from his windows

• Have you had a broadband pole installed near your home? Email: gina.kalsi@mailonline.co.uk 

A landlord was stunned when he came back to his property to find a 30ft broadband pole planted in his front garden.

The eyesore not only wrecked Richard Carmichael’s front lawn in Hull, East Yorkshire, but also ruined the views from his lounge and bedroom windows.

He has pleaded with broadband provider Connexin to remove the 10inch wide trunk but they have so far allegedly refused.

Mr Carmichael, 48, who runs a local garage, said: ‘I own the house – my tenant messaged me to say someone had installed a pole in the garden.

‘The same day I came around and had a look. I was appalled and disgusted. I could not believe anyone could do that.’

He bought the two-bedroom semi in 2006 and properties in the street are now selling for around £150k,

But Mr Carmichael fears it may have been devalued by the pole.

Have you had a broadband pole installed near your home? Email: gina.kalsi@mailonline.co.uk 

He continued: ‘I downloaded the deeds to my house and told them it was well within my boundary.

‘But the firm fobbed me off saying it is well within a public service strip. The pole is taller than the house. It is 3m away from the end of the house

‘It might be worth £150,000 but it might be less with the pole, which is blocking the lounge and master bedroom window.

‘It is about 10 inches wooden with creosote. It stinks of creosote.’

What has stunned Mr Carmichael and his neighbours that is the street already has two broadband networks.

Many residents have already declared they will not be changing to the new provider as they see no reason why the poles and wires cannot be buried like the other two networks.

He added: ‘Kingston has put in underground cables so has MS3. So there are already two underground networks.

‘The driveway, the pole, and the edge of the house are very close to each other. The pole is at the end of the front lawn.

‘To make matters worse the house is at the end of the cul-de-sac where people have to do U-turns

‘I can count half a dozen poles already. I understand my pole would feed about 12 dwellings.

‘There are two more of them on the edge of the footpath and two more in a green space with seating.

‘They have shown no consideration about where they put my poles.

‘The front garden looks absolutely appalling. It looked like they had done quite a bit of damage. It is just an eyesore.

‘There are two other services there already. My thought was why cannot they use the infrastructure and go underground? It would save them putting a pole there in the first place.’

The businessman, who is married with children, added: ‘I am just appalled. I am just so annoyed about it being put there.

‘There was no advance warning from the company or council that they were going to be installed. Some sort of notice was on some of the street lamps but it was very general.

‘They could have put a letter through the door so we could have opposed it before it happened. You have a right to appeal but it seems like they are not going to do anything.

‘My tenant came back from work and it was there. There was no chance to stop it.’

Other residents complained and said that three trucks that turned up at 7.30am in the morning. 

They allegedly blocked all the exits which left one elderly woman struggling to get out of the driveway for her husband’s hospital appointment.

Mr Carmichael’s pole is only six feet from an existing underground connection.

The company told him in an email: ‘We do not install poles within private property, only within the adopted public highway.

‘The pole has been installed within a ‘service strip’ are. A ‘service strip’ is legally part of the public highway and is normally either pavement or part of the grass verge.

‘Service strip often blend in with your garden and appear to be part of your garden. Utilities and telecoms companies do have the right of access to service strips.

‘They were planned in with the development of your property for the specific purpose of allowing easy access to current utilities and services and for the introduction of future services.’

MailOnline has contacted Connexin for comment.