AN angry pensioner has hit out after being left with no internet or telephone for almost two weeks due to a fault with a cable.

Roger Harmon, 71, from Darwen, first experienced problems on July 10 but, despite reporting the fault, it took Openreach 12 days to fix it.

The fault was situated at the top of a telegraph pole not far from his home.

The digital network business said they were unable to repair the fault at the time because of overhanging branches around the pole.

Mr Harmon said the fault was finally fixed on Monday afternoon by an engineer from Openreach.

However Mr Harmon described the service as disgusting and said he should not have been left without a landline and internet, which he gets in a £40 a month package with Now TV, for such a long period of time.

Mr Harmon, who lives in Earnsdale Close, said: “I had no internet or telephone for 12 days.

“I couldn’t watch certain things on Now TV either, although I could watch Freeview TV and I have a mobile phone.

“Some engineers from Openreach came down once and went up a telegraph pole in my neighbour’s garden

“But the fault was further up at the back of someone’s house in Aysgarth Drive, but they said they couldn’t do anything due to the pole not being accessible because of branches.

“My whole experience has been disgusting and you shouldn’t be waiting this for long for a fault to be fixed.”

Mr Harmon said the fault on the telegraph pole was the same one that has had issues in the past and said he hopes it would not happen again.

He said: “This has been a problem for years, as every year you get branches that get in the way and snap the wires.

“I’ve had problems with a loss of service before and so have neighbours but never for as long as I have this time.

“I know the fault has been fixed now but it still really does need sorting out so it won’t happen again.

“It’s also impossible to get through to Openreach and their communication needs to be better. “

Openreach apologised for the loss of service.

An Openreach spokesman said: “This fault was first reported to Openreach on July 15. We attended the site and established that the fault was situated at the top of a telegraph pole not far from the customer's home.

"Unfortunately due to overhanging branches the pole was not immediately accessible but engineers have now returned and managed to restore service. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused due to the loss of service,” added the spokesman.