Phones begin to ring again in West Berkshire villages
Thieves stole more than 600 meters of cable causing phone lines to go down in four West Berkshire villages
PHONE lines in four West Berkshire villages are beginning to be reconnected eleven days after thieves stole more than 600 meters of cable.
The copper cable was stolen from the Everington Lane area of Yattendon on the evening of August 9 causing phone lines to be knocked out in Hermitage, Hampstead Norreys, Frilsham and Yattendon.
More than 200 homes and businesses have been affected, including Rebecca Block of Hampstead Norreys, who has been left frustrated with BT.
She said: “I phoned BT at about 5pm on Wednesday and they said the phone lines would be reconnected in 36 hours but my phone line is still off.
“The only time BT called me was on Tuesday when they said the phone lines would be back on Wednesday. The excuse they gave on Wednesday was that the cables were too short.”
Mick Hartwell, also of in Hampstead Norreys, said his phone line is also out but know others in the village that have had their lines reconnected.
“I was working in the village shop last night and a woman came in to say her phone was reconnected last night so I think they are working through them slowly,” he said.
In Yattendon West Berkshire Brewery has confirmed that some of their phones were reconnected this morning.
Spokeswoman for BT, Emma Littlejohn said: “This fault has taken slightly longer to fix than we had initially hoped, but it is a complex repair and we were working in poor weather conditions yesterday which did not help.
“We did make a change to the cable, but this has not caused any delays as we changed it before we were able to start work at the location.
“Service is being restored for customers and will keep going until everyone is back, which we hope will be over the weekend.”