Transport for London (TfL) has dished out its largest ever fine for a single streetworks offence, sending a message to utility companies that it won’t stand for avoidable inconvenience to road users.

London Power Networks (LPN) was fined £24,000 after pleading guilty to two counts of carrying out work without a permit, and two counts of failing to serve the required statutory streetworks notices before beginning work.

Each offence of undertaking work without a permit reaped a fine of £10,000 - the highest ever imposed in London to date for a single streetworks offence. Failing to serve the statutory notice took LPN’s total fine to £4,000, before being ordered to pay £3,722 in prosecution costs.

When sentencing, the judge said they could see no acceptable reason why large organisations continued to ignore regulations designed to reduce convenience for road users during works.

TfL has prosecuted LPN over five previous offences since 2014, issuing more than 1,650 fixed penalty notices. The authority said it would continue to push for the toughest penalties possible for utility companies caught acting unlawfully and mismanaging streetworks.