6 February 2007
BT has blamed a recent spate of bad weather for its inability to restore landline telephone facilities to residents in Aylesbury until this weekend, after residents had to cope for over a month without telephone communications, according to a report in the Aylesbury Today.
The area affected includes a residential area which contains an elderly carehome called the Chantry.
Joan Croker, 75, who lives there with her husband Bill, 85, told the paper that since they moved in on December 7th they had only had "five days at most" where they had been able to use a telephone line.
Worse still, the emergency button used to alert people if the couple falls into difficulty runs through the landline and the fault had left them feeling "really cut off, especially at night".
"My husband was poorly the other day and my mobile phone ran out of credit. It was very scary," Mrs Croker added.
Forced to use her mobile in the interim, Mrs Croker ran up a bill of £15, which she has appealed to BT to compensate her for.
Emma Littlejohn, spokeswoman for BT, told the Aylesbury Today that bad weather had caused the delay following initial damage to a cable in the area.
"Delays were caused because it had to be repaired at night as the Manor House Hospital entrance is nearby and the rainfall and winds have stretched us to the limit which has unfortunately caused a knock-on effect," said Ms Littlejohn.
"We apologise, especially for this length of time. We do what we can to minimise disruption but unfortunately it took longer than we expected," she added.
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