Heather Kidd, Lib Dem Councillor for Chirbury and Worthen has slammed the British Telecom for its abject failure to reconnect most of the hamlet of Brockton, Lower Down and Bury Ditches near Bishops Castle after their phones had been off line for more than a week. She is covering the area while a new Councillor is elected and was alerted to this by Charlotte Barnes.
“A council officer and I have tried repeatedly to report this major fault through BT’s labyrinthine telephone fault reporting network without result. We’ve spoken to people in- it appears- Bangalore but not anyone that can do anything about it. Residents have reported this and been given a job reference number. BT’s phone bank did not recognise it and said that Open reach might be the answer. Why can’t this be passed on by them? It’s ridiculous that the major network provider can’t do better than this after more than 7 days of problems.”
“Local businesses and the several older people with health issues are left with no phone line and no internet. As mobile phone signals here are poor or none existent this is presenting a huge problem. There must be a way of dealing with this on a temporary basis while a permanent solution is found.” She added.
Heather has now contacted BT’s Chief executive, Ian Livingstone, who is now involved and trying to find a way through this for these isolated people. ” I was impressed by his instant response” added Cllr Kidd.