Middle Barton homes without phones after cable theft

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-16671123

Version 0 of 1.

About 300 homes in Oxfordshire have been left without working telephone landlines and internet services after copper cabling was stolen by thieves.

Homes in Middle Barton have been without services since Friday. Services in Tackley are also affected.

Three sections of cable, each 350m (1,150ft) long, were taken from BT's Steeple Aston exchange.

BT said engineers would be on site to carry out "painstaking work" to reconnect each line manually on Monday.

Damage assessed

The incident is the third in the county in a month. Thieves also stole cables linked to BT's Adderbury exchange on 9 and 11 January.

A BT spokeswoman said: "Engineers have assessed the damage and ordered supplies to start work on repairs first thing tomorrow.

"Once the main cables are in they will have to connect up each and every one manually.

"This is painstaking work but they will be cracking on with it as quickly as possible."

She urged people to call their service provider to help with "practical measures such as putting line diverts in place while the permanent repairs are carried out".