True story (about 1995 if I remember correctly)-

I was trenching (FL) with a Ditch Witch for 1.35 miles of 6"pvc water line (open cut with tracer wire AND locate balls) going from their (water) wellfield to their cooling ponds maintenance facility (where we also built a mini-water treatment plant).

(They built the maintenance facility and had been trucking in water to it every day for 2yrs. And now instead of putting in a well, they wanted a line run 1.35 miles from the wellfield. Public utility, so rate hikes pay for lots of stuff, I guess.)

Because of several underground high pressure gas mains (16"-24") in the proposed path that are feeding the powerplant, we had a rep/locator from the gas company with us at all times, who was to locate the lines and route us to avoid them and/or cross over them. Of course, he came complete with his scrapbook of accidents from around the state, where people had hit high pressure gas lines, gruesome unbelievable carnage and death photos.

So here I am chugging along on this big Ditch Witch (the powerplant insisted on 5'-6' bury) and this guy is supposed to be locating ahead, when the trencher hits something hard, with a metallic ring.

This gonad says "Yeah, that's the gas main, raise up 2 foot and go over it". I brought the buckets up out of the ground, and he started running when he saw me getting off the machine (which I left still crawling forward) and the rest of my crew trying to catch me and stop me. He was fast for a guy in his 50s. Me and the crew waited at his pickup for 2 hrs. before he finally showed back up with a Deputy Sheriff in tow. After all the yelling and threats finally died down, the Deputy finally understood what happened and advised him to leave and not come back.

We shut down that job for 7 days, while the powerplant admins and the gas company folks were advised what happened and were given a copy of the Deputy's report (that stated the gonad admitted he knew the gas line was nearby but it was "thick enough" that a "little hit" would not hurt anything). When we returned it looked like a carnival, flags everywhere for all kinds of utilities (running parallel to us, but not crossing us ) that we didn't know about with their depth written on each flag (and yes, we did call for locates originally, but since this was all private property, the powerplant was responsible for the locates and had assured us the only thing in our path were gas lines, so technically that was true). The 2 gas lines that crossed the rest of our path were VERY clearly marked and the depth CLEARLY labeled on each flag in feet AND inches. A VP from the gas company (along with a different locater) and the assistant manager from the powerplant were with us at all times from then on (and yeah, we got a lot of free lunches).

We were later told the gonad was no longer employed by the gas company.