A GROUP of Dunley residents say they have been treated “appallingly” after their phones were disconnected for nearly two months.

Lorraine McAdam, of Dick Brook, and her neighbours, including ill and elderly residents, were left without phone or internet after a telephone cable on the A451 – which runs through the village between Stourport and Great Witley – was brought down by a tree seven weeks ago.

According to Mrs McAdam, BT failed four times to reconnect them, forgetting temporary traffic lights were needed to work on the road. Last Friday, she was told an engineer would revisit on August 15.

After contacting The Shuttle that day, however, she and her neighbour were reconnected on Sunday and another neighbour on Tuesday.

A spokesman for BT said the delay had been caused by safety concerns and they had decided to work on Sunday morning when the road was quiet.

One resident, Bill Mansell, 85, who has lost use of his legs, needs to see a doctor three times a week.

“There is no way of getting anything if you want an ambulance or emergency services,” he said, before being reconnected on Tuesday.

“I had a scare last Friday night when five youths were banging on the windows, asking if they could use our phone.

“It is not nice when you cannot move. The police came out the next day and said it could have been serious.”

Another elderly resident left his ill wife at home to find somewhere with mobile phone reception so he could call her a doctor.

“It was an absolute disgrace,”

said Mrs McAdam. “We have been treated appallingly.”

She added they had heard “excuses about traffic lights and suddenly it has been repaired without any sign of traffic lights.

“It has caused so much grief and we all believe if we hadn’t contacted The Shuttle we would still be offline.”

The BT spokeswoman said 15 customers had been affected and services were now restored.

“It is regrettable when Openreach suffers any kind of accidental damage to its network,”

she said. “Our priority is always to restore services to those affected as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately these repairs took longer than we would have liked, primarily because of safety concerns.”