Residents are angry after being `fobbed off` by internet provider after a major incident left them off-line for more than two weeks in a rural village.

Hampshire police confirmed on August 26 at 6.23pm, they received reports of a single vehicle collision, believed to be a tractor and trailer which had collided with the overhead powerlines on Carter's Clay Road. causing the road to be closed for a period of time.

Police called Hampshire Highways England and Scottish Southern Electricity to assist.

Martin Grey, resident of Carter’s Clay Road recalls there being live wires exposed and hanging from the properties of which three have been affected. He also said a witness who had been driving a car behind the tractor had seen the trailer rise and catch the overhead cables.

Residents have praised SSE and Hampshire Highways for their timely response and for isolating the live wires before anyone was seriously hurt. However, more than two weeks later, whilst power cables have been restored, Openreach have yet to replace the broken telephone wires leaving the homeowners without a hard-wired telephone or internet connection. Residents say they rely on WI-FI calling because signal is poor where they live.

Paul Legg, resident said: “We have been dealing with our service provider EE who have been great but are limited as to what can be done as it’s Openreach who own the line.

“Openreach have been hopeless, they tell us that yes there is a fault with the line and said someone will come out on 29th August. Never seen anyone. They now tell us that the fault is affecting 29 houses and its due to a previous incident and a new pole needs to be put up, until then they won't fix our problem. There was a previous incident, and a new pole was put up several months ago.

“You don't realise how much you rely on something as simple as a phone line until you haven't got one.

“My wife is unable to work from home, we have children of school and college age who are unable to access their online work. I'm a self-employed decorator and I’m concerned that I'm missing phone calls regarding potential work.

“What should be something simple as replacing phone lines to three houses is turning in to a complete nightmare.”

Martin said: “Openreach just came out and cut the broken cables off but didn’t replace them. They keep saying they will check the line, but there is no line. They keep saying there’s a major incident, something about 29 properties and they need to put a pole up, but we don’t want a pole, we want a line. Jodie and Paul next door are with EE and they just pass it back to Openreach.

“They say they’re going to give me a refund, they better.”

Ward Cllr Nick Adams-King added: “Residents in Carter’s Clay have now been without any phone or internet service for over two weeks through no fault of their own. It’s hugely disappointing Openreach have not prioritised helping the community, particularly as mobile phone signal is so poor there too. Openreach need to pull their finger out and help this rural community urgently."

An Openreach spokesperson said: “We’re sorry the repair work has taken longer than we would have liked. Customers should be back in service today [Thursday September 9]. We encourage anyone experiencing problems with their phone or broadband services to report them.”