MORE than 90 residents of Lythe Hill Park and Tennysons Lane in Haslemere were left without a landline for a fortnight in a notorious “not spot” for mobile phones.

Repairing the faulty underground cable proved to be a bigger problem than expected for BT, which was only able to start restoring service to those affected on Tuesday.

Ex-town councillor Fay Foster was particularly hard hit as her husband Michael, needs medical attention.

She was assured her line would be prioritised as a result and reconnected within five days but it has taken 16 days to restore the couple’s landline.

She said: “Since the signal for mobile phones up here is pretty awful, there were a great number of residents who were cut off. Emails are very erratic, and broadband is desperately slow.

“We suffered more because Michael had a pulmonary embolism in September. They are still trying to stabilise his blood. I have had to make so many calls to the Royal Surrey County Hospital, having to use a phone in the town and then they couldn’t return the call.

“I had an awful fright when Michael started to go into a diabetic coma, which I had never experienced before and, because I couldn’t ring 999, we had to get in the car and drive to the surgery to ask for help.

“My son was in constant communication with BT, normally waiting 45 minutes or so each call, and we were told after three days off we were a priority and would be reconnected within the next two working days. I believe more than 90 properties were affected.

“There may well be people who have had even more trouble that Michael and I had. One feels so vulnerable with no means of communication. Knowing your neighbours are in the same predicament is also very frightening.”

A BT spokesman told The Herald engineers had been working seven days a week to repair a faulty underground cable which was affected by water damage, affecting service in Lythe Hill Park and Tennysons Lane.

He said: “The repair work has been complex and time-consuming, requiring traffic management for engineers to carry out works safely to replace around 150 metres of cable. Engineers have been working as fast as they can.”