RESIDENTS of Thurlestone were left isolated when telephone lines stopped working for many in the village for almost two weeks.

British Telecom engineers were in the area, replacing two sections of underground cable when the fault occurred.

Villagers were particularly angry as, on top of the inconvenience and worry of being without a phone line, there was little communication from BT about what the problem was and when it would be fixed.

Sarah Tyers, owner of Thurlestone Post Office and store said: ‘We didn’t hear anything in the first week, but in the second week, we were notified by BT that it was a ‘common fault.’

‘Many of the services we offer in the post office were affected. People couldn’t draw their pensions, pay their car tax or bills.’

‘The cash machine wasn’t working, so people couldn’t gain access to their money, which probably means less was spent in the shop.’

‘This was the worst I’ve ever known it.

‘It’s not the first time our internet has gone down, but it is usually fixed within 24 hours.’

Thurlestone Post Office managed to muddle through the chaos as they had another working phone line in the shop – although many in the village weren’t so fortunate.

An elderly resident, who asked not to be named, was particularly worried as her Call 24 alarm system wasn’t working, meaning she wouldn’t have been able to call for help if needed. With mobile phone signal patchy at best, local residents rely heavily on their landlines in case of emergency and to stay in touch with family and friends.

Jason Mann, a spokesman for BT confirmed they had received 90 ‘fault reports’ from Thurlestone and the surrounding area over a 12 day period.

He said: ‘We’re sorry for the delay in restoring services to residents in Thurlestone.

‘It was a substantial engineering job, that involved the replacement of two sections of underground cable that had become faulty.

‘According to our records, the first fault was reported on Tuesday, July 21 and normal service returned on Saturday, August 1.

‘The reason why these cables went faulty has not yet been confirmed.’