I'm afraid I still don't agree. We still have no act of parliament and no legal precedent so all that remains is to compare it to other actions we see as similar. You see it as similar to breaking into someone else's property (I hope that's a fair interpretation), I see it as similar to a situation where a person willingly leaves his/her property inside someone else's, knowing that it will have to be moved/removed etc to allow future maintenance. I don't see any evidence that it's a criminal offense or even grounds for a civil case, and I don't think repeatedly saying it is makes it so.
I'm sorry you lost me here.. the DNO cutout and meters are a permenant install, they fit millions of them and they should remain as fitted, yes circumstances often arise where relocation is required or access to terminals is needed to replace a CU but as its their sole property only they can give permission or do it themselves, your argument is full of flaws... If a company fits a bandit in a pub through a contract and a guy changes notes into coins over the bar and the bandit takes the money then the bar runs out of coins - does that mean they can break into the machine for change (leaving the notes behind) just because someone elses property is in their property -NO!
As for my comment about putting stickers on CUs prohibiting others from working on them - yes it was silly, it was meant to be, lol. It was just meant to demonstrate that the existence of a sticker stating that something is criminal does not in itself make it criminal!
I'm not meaning to get at you or anyone else on here. I just think the industry as a whole is being too ready to sit back and take the blame here. I actually think it's pretty disgraceful for large organizations (the DNOs) to accuse en-mass an entire industry of routine criminal action without being prepared to take action accordingly.
As I said earlier we all sympathise with the concept of your argument and yes there should be a better system and this has been argued long before you were born, and welcome to the realisation of the stupidity of it, your searching for a specific parliment act but its not the case as it falls under general laws of property and access.
I'm probably not gonna write any more on this, for the time being anyway; I've had my little rant lol and will let other people make up their own minds!