Telephone engineers were due yesterday (Thursday) finally to reconnect furious Kilmory residents — many of them elderly, infirm and living alone — left without a vital lifeline for more than a week.
At least 35 villagers were affected after a lorry brought down an overhead cable last Wednesday.
They said BT customer care staff originally told them an engineer would be there on Monday but no one arrived.
Since the incident, they have had to use telephones in the village hall and the primary school to try to find out why the repair is taking so long.
The parents of community councillor Alistair Yates, Edith and Gordon, have a lifeline telephone fitted in their home. In an emergency, they press a panic button which automatically connects to the telephone and dials for help.
Alistair Yates said: ‘It shouldn’t take them this long to repair the fault.
‘We get forgotten about and people like my mum and dad aren’t safe in the house without the phone. There is no way for them to call for help. These people should have been a priority.’
The lorry damaged the cable serving Torrylinn Terrace and the farms and cottages in the surrounding area.
Elizabeth Cook from Torylinn, Kilmory, said that the telephone is essential for many in the village and it is difficult to live without it.
She said: ‘It’s ludicrous that it has taken so long to fix the problem. Many of us who have no telephone live in remote farms and cottages. If anything was to happen then even our distant neighbours wouldn’t be able to telephone for help.’
Villagers agreed that the uncertainty has been the biggest problem. Mrs Cook added: ‘We have all reported the problem to BT but they seem unable to give us a definite answer. I don’t understand how it can take so long to get fixed.’
A BT spokesman said on Wednesday: ‘A lorry brought down an overhead cable serving around 35 customers at Kilmory.
‘The work requires a specialist team from the mainland as the cable crosses a road and, weather permitting, the team will take the ferry over tomorrow (Thursday) and replace the damaged section of cable.
‘Customers who reported faults were given the option of having their incoming calls diverted to their mobiles or another fixed line free of charge.’
