Residents and business owners in a Nottinghamshire village say they are frustrated after being without a landline and internet for over a month. The villagers believe copper wiring at a BT exchange on Mattersey Road, Torworth in north Nottinghamshire, was stolen more than once, resulting in a long wait for the problem to be fixed.
As reported by Lincolnshire Live, Graham Hadley, 76, first noticed his landline was down at the start of June but said his internet is still working. "The landline first stopped working for me on June 3 I think it was.
"I tried to phone somebody and couldn't get through and soon found out from people in the village that they had the same thing. Somebody stole the copper wiring from Mattersey Road again, I think it's the third time that's happened.
"I heard it was supposed to be fixed on June 24, then June 27 and now people are saying it could be July 7. Nobody's putting any general information out about it so I'm picking it up from others who have tried to look it up.
"There doesn't seem to be any major rush and I don't know if I'll be able to get any compensation. If you're with BT then you'll probably get some information from them but if you're not then tough luck."
Business owners in the village have also been badly affected by the situation. Shelley Knottenbelt, from Torworth Grange farm shop and café, said the business has lost both internet and landline which has severely reduced the amount of customers coming through the doors.
She said: "Our business has probably decreased by about 30 per cent. A lot of our customers want to book and like to speak to somebody because they come here regularly so if they don't get anyone on the phone then they wonder what's happened and just don't come.
"All our accounting is on online portals but we can't access our Wi-Fi and we can't use hotspot either because it's not strong enough. Staff are having to use their own phones to log on and use their own data which isn't ideal.
"A few days is fine and maybe up to a week but seven weeks in total is a long time for a business to be without that sort of thing. There's definitely a decrease in footfall and in a normal month it could be up to £10,000 that we're not taking."
Many residents of Torworth rely on using their landline to contact friends, family and their doctors' surgery. There is an element of confusion in the village as to when the problem will be fixed as no updates have been given recently.
Sue Sanderson, 76, said: "I have got a mobile but it's affected me more because we use the landline a lot. They said it would come back on last Friday but the lady at the shop said it should be this week.
"I first noticed when my family tried to get hold of me but it came up with an engaged sign. That was on May 26 so it's been over a month now."
A spokesperson for Openreach said: "We’re really disappointed that villagers in Torworth are having to bear the brunt of criminal behaviour and theft from our network. More than 1,200 metres of underground cable was taken and damage to the network is causing disruption to phone and broadband services for hundreds of local homes and businesses."
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