shower t&e plus another earth

[jaysta]

I'm thinking of re-routing this shower cable away from the main bedroom in my house before I gut the room. At the moment it's just dangling in the corner of the room (previously it was inside a cupboard, which has now been removed). I'm not sure of thickness unfortunately but it's running from CU to the shower switch. Then, from the shower switch to the shower. This is of course expected as I've seen the same in my parents' house. However, along side my shower wire is another earth wire running alongside it. I think this extra earth wire even runs from the shower switch to the shower.

What's this extra earth wire for? Is it normal practice? My instinct tells me that it's there to improve earth conductivity in case an earth fault occurs but just thought I should ask on here.

Thanks for your time.

 

[ColJack]

supplimentary bonding?

what size is it?

is it ex council house?

they've done the same to mine, run in a seperate 6mm earth for some reason..

 

[jaysta]

Thanks for yer quick reply ColJack

supplimentary bonding?

Not sure what you mean?

what size is it?

Off hand I'm not sure of size of either the t&e or the extra earth cable. I will check tomorrow if I remember.

is it ex council house?

No it's an 1880s terraced house

they've done the same to mine

I'm glad I'm not alone then

 

[ColJack]

supplementary bonding

 

[jaysta]

the t&e is 6mm² and the extra earth wire is also 6mm² and it makes sense now i think with the pdf you posted ColJack so thanks for that.