PerryBebbington:
2. The neutral in the return path for current in the live wire after it has gone through whatever you are powering, so the neutral is connected to live via lights, heaters, TVs, whatever. In the event that the neutral becomes disconnected, maybe because of a loose connection, then the neutral becomes live and it no longer safe.
Perry could you please explain your second point here? When the electrical AC path is going from the load to the neutral, is the neutral not at ground potential? And, when the current reverses direction and goes from the neutral to the load, is it also not at ground potential? Could you also please explain what you mean by the neutral becoming disconnected? Disconnected in between the wall outlet and the load? Or between the wall outlet and breaker? Or between the breaker and the transformer outside?
Here in the US we have tons of plugs for appliances that do not have a ground prong, which is probably much less safer than what y'all have in the UK.