MALICIOUS damage to a road-side BT cabinet has left residents and businesses with no phone or internet service for over a week.

Cables were found to have been cut out of the cabinet outside The Jolly Farmer pub on the crossroads between Binsted Road and Blacknest Road, after reports of properties in the Bucks Horn Oak and Blacknest area being affected on July 16.

Residents were led to believe the problems stemmed from a car accident on July 13 at 5.08pm involving two vehicles in which the telephone box/hub was damaged.

However, following this incident BT/Openreach has informed The Herald of a further attack on the inside of the cabinet which has left around 170 businesses and residents without phone lines or internet service.

A temporary repair has been completed to restore some level of phone and internet service, but a permanent solution is yet to be implemented.

Businesses including Birdworld and those based in nearby Halfway Farm off the A325 Bordon Road are among those affected.

A spokesman for Birdworld said: “Openreach came out Wednesday (July 19) and by Monday (July 24) everything was back up and running so hopefully there will be no further problems.”

A spokesman from Openreach said: “A temporary service was put in place for the local homes and businesses affected by this damage over the weekend, on July 22 and 23.

“The repair work has been complex, as engineers have required permission to start work from a nearby utilities firm, for safety reasons.

“Emergency traffic lights were also applied for and engineers have already replaced the cabinet shell.

“Engineers started work Monday, July 24, to carry out a permanent repair to the cables. Engineers are working as quickly as they can, it’s estimated that the permanent repair work will take around two weeks.

“Customers will lose service temporally, for only five minutes or so while they are being changed back on to the permanent fix.”