Openreach has been criticised for failing to repair a damaged landline connection in Cumbria for over a month.
The Crawfords, Noreen and Jim, who are 72 and 74 respectively, are based in the Carlisle adjacent village of Hethersgill. They have been unable to use their landline since Wednesday 9th July.
“I need it and I’ve been really uptight and upset about it,” Mrs Crawford said to the BBC.
“It’s been terrible, it’s like having your arm cut off – it’s been really stressful, [the phone] is my lifeline.”
Mrs Crawford explained that the landline for medical appointments and to speak to her unwell sister and other family members, who live around Newcastle.
While the couple do have a mobile pay-as-you-go option, they insisted this is only for emergencies.
The current theory is that the line was damaged by another company performing other maintenance in the area. Openreach were reported to have attended the next day, when they confirmed the fault existed. However no repairs were conducted.
“We’re out here and they just don’t care about us, there’s only five properties so they’re not bothered – that’s the feeling I’m getting.” Said Mr Crawford.
“If the phone lines and broadband had have gone down in Harraby or somewhere like that – a big area – it would have been fixed immediately.”
The situation has left the Crawfords, and four other neighbouring households, relying upon others generosity. Specifically Marti Irving, the local pub landlady of the Black Lion.
This is not the first time Openreach has failed to provide service to extremely isolated communities for extended periods.
In January 2024, it took Openreach over a fortnight to respond following a crash into a telegraph pole resulted in the disconnection of the CA6 6LX postcode in Carlisle.
Laura Carleton, who lives in the area, said at the time: “We have got a lot of vulnerable people. I myself am disabled. My neighbour is pregnant and diabetic.
“We’ve got recovering cancer patients and recovering stroke patients who are now in an area with no internet, no phones and no mobile phone reception either. We’re completely cut off from emergency services.”
In December 2024 an 81 year old woman in the village of Smalley in Derbyshire was left without a landline for three weeks.
“I rely on talking to people” Said Mrs Margret Stone “I do go out but the fact you can’t use your landline, it is not very good mentally.”
While many different internet and phone companies may sell customers services using the lines that Openreach owns, the lines themselves are a near complete national monopoly. The only exceptions being the lines provided by Virgin media, and the phone lines and broadband around the city of Hull. As a rule, Openreach repair staff do not operate at the weekends.
Regarding the Crawfords’ situation, speaking to the BBC, Openreach said “We’ve had to request two-way temporary traffic lights so our engineers can work safely,”
“Repair work will start on Tuesday and we’ll get Jim and Noreen back up and running as soon as possible.”
