Hunts Post’s rescue gets phone lines working

A RESIDENT of Offord Cluny got so fed up waiting for BT to come and fix his phone line that he turned to The Hunts Post for help - with instant results.

A road accident on June 26 left villagers in Latin Close, Offord Cluny, without any phone lines and no idea when their service might be restored.

However, within days of The Hunts Post getting involved, BT engineers finally got round to fixing the lines - 26 days after they were brought down (July 21).

BT has apologised to about 20 customers in the road who had been forced to use mobile phones and denied internet access while the lines were out of action.

Two overheard telephone cables serving the homes were felled in the road crash, while two telegraph poles also had to be replaced.

Gareth Rondell, one of the residents in Latin Close, told The Hunts Post he was disgusted at the length of time it took BT to repair the lines.

"My biggest complaint is the complete lack of communication from BT," he said. "We were left in the dark for three weeks, trying to find out what was going on."

Mr Rondell is a TalkTalk customer, but BT Openreach is the company in charge of maintaining the lines.

He said: "Using a mobile phone is obviously expensive when compared to a landline and some of the older residents rely heavily on their phones."

He added: "I was treated very curtly on the phone when I tried to reach BT.

"They were very unhelpful and I sent a letter of complaint, which did at least prompt a telephone call of apology."

In a statement, BT said: "BT would like to apologise to the 20 or so customers in Latin Close for the delay in restoring service.

"Unfortunately a road accident caused two overhead telephone lines being brought down and as a result two telephone poles also had to be replaced.

"This is major work which requires careful planning but the good news is that two new poles have been erected and services are now restored.