Phonelines down for a month

The Fenton Fields and Lincoln Road area in the Lincolnshire village, near Gainsborough, has suffered a technical fault - leaving 20 households without phone use or internet access.

The fault - affecting BT customers - was first reported on Friday 27th January, but now residents have been told repairs won’t be finished for weeks.

Fenton resident Brian Trendell said: “I think it’s absolutely disgusting for it to take a month for a company the size of BT to sort out a problem like this in this day and age - it’s like living in the dark ages.”

“I work from home, so this is especially frustrating.”

A BT spokesman said: “We have an underground cable which has begun to go faulty which is affecting services in the area of Fenton Fields and Lincoln Road in Fenton.”

“We need to carry out a number of excavations to clear blockages in the cable run and ducting to then allow new cabling to be brought in. We currently have 20 reported faults from residents associated with this problem and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

He continued: “21st February is the estimated date we have for completions of excavations and the 25th would then be the completion date for new cabling.”

“We are urgently exploring if we can bring these scheduled works forward.”

Fenton Fields resident Anna Ingamells, 31, said she and her husband were enquiring about getting compensation.

“By 25th February we will have been without a phone line and broadband for a month. But we’re still paying for it,” she said.

“It’s costing us more to make calls from our mobiles, and for other people to call us.”