VILLAGERS in West Buckland have been left without phone lines and internet for over a week – and they have no idea when they will be reconnected.

Around 90 residents have contacted BT after their phone lines went down last week.

There have been concerns raised over elderly residents living in the village, many of whom rely on the Piper system – which contacts someone if they need help – which is affected by the connection problems.

Bob Payne, who lives in West Buckland and runs a holiday home business from his home, said he was told services would have been restored by Monday of Tuesday this week, but as the County Gazette went to press, lines were still down.

A spokesman for BT said they could not comfirm a restoration date but were working to restore services as quickly as possible.

Mr Payne said: “We’ve had hardly anything from BT its been frustrating.

“I have missed a few bookings and people have had difficulties getting hold of me.”

John Andrews, whose daughter Julie Bartram owns West Buckland Stores, said the whole thing was disgraceful.

John added: “We haven’t been able to take any card payments since last week and we have lost out on a lot of trade.

“Most people in the village know and are using cash but for people just passing through the village we are really losing out.

“My daughter lives in Cotford but she has no internet out there or here now so can’t make her orders online and is having to go out and pick things up.

“The people I feel sorry for most are the really elderly ones who don’t have mobile phones.

“Everyone in the village is rallying round to help, but it’s at nighttime when they have no one that worries me.

“We have no idea when we’ll be back up and running.

BT spokesman Jason Mann said: “We’re sorry that this repair is taking longer than usual.

It’s a complex job and involves work to fix a fault in the underground network.

“The vast majority of residents wouldn’t be affected as it doesn’t affect the whole of the village – we’ve had about 90 customers reporting a fault.

“We’re working to restore services as quickly as possible, but we can’t yet confirm a date.”