Villagers angry over loss of internet face further wait

The aftermath of the tractor incident which led to internet and telephone services being down at Plungar

A large proportion of the 59 households at Plungar have been affected by the issue and BT’s Openreach said today (Tuesday) they are unlikely to be reconnected until next week.

The problem arose on Saturday June 18 when a tractor jacknifed, after being said to swerve to avoid a supermarket delivery van, before taking out a telephone pole.

BT sent engineers to look at the damage but they were unable to immediately get services back up and running.

Resident, Oliver Penney, told the Melton Times: “We have elderly people who can't call relatives and people who can't work at home.

“There have been loads of irate quotes on our Redmile/Barkestone/Plungar group on Facebook since it happened.”

A spokesperson for Openreach said: “We’re really sorry for the disruption here.

"One of our poles has been damaged and this is disrupting phone and broadband services in Plungar.

"We’re awaiting specialist engineers and equipment to remove the old pole, install a new one, and connect everything back up again.

"This work is currently due to take place next week, but we appreciate how disruptive this is, so we’re doing everything we can to bring the date forward.”

The village currently has a population of around 250 people.

All residents had to cope with their power being down for an extended period only last month after a unicorn helium balloon landed on the power cables there in another incident.