RESIDENTS have demanded lessons are learnt after being left without phone or internet for two weeks.

As reported in Saturday’s Oxford Mail, a cut phone cable has caused chaos in Cumnor and left nearly 250 residents unable to send emails, make phone calls, access the internet or even call 999 since February 12.

Contractors were believed to have cut a cable, which has caused problems for nearly 250 people in the village.

Chris Broughton, 35, who manages the Vine Inn in Cumnor, said business was badly affected on Valentine’s Day when the pub was unable to take phone bookings for meals.

He said: “We couldn’t take card payments for a while and now we are having to do it the old fashioned way by taking the card machine away to another office to get the card payments pushed through.

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“It took them a long time to get my number diverted to a mobile, so we could take bookings “ We had about 14 bookings for Valentine’s Day and we normally take about 50.

“People said builders on a site up the road cut through the cable and BT claim the cable is unique with about 2,600 connections.”

He added: “It will have been about three weeks by the time it’s back up and running.”

Basil England, a chartered engineer from the village, said: “It’s been very difficult. Nowadays people rely on the internet for work and emails.

“It’s been worse for the elderly of the village, those who live alone and who don’t have mobile phones.

“We haven’t been able to dial 999 in the event we needed emergency cover.”

The 55-year-old added: “Lessons can be learnt from this. Developers should be required to check where utility cables are before they go digging up roads.”

British Telecom has been on site laying new duct and 220 metres of cable.

The company said it expected to continue repair work for most of this week, but would avoid school pick-up times.

It said repairs had been delayed because the company had to liaise with Oxfordshire County Council to get permission to dig up the roads.

Vale of White Horse district councillor Dudley Hoddinott said he had to prepare the Liberal Democrat groups’ budget from an internet cafe.

He said: “I was helping to organise the Lib Dem budget in the Vale. It wasn’t ideal at all.

“I had no access to emails at home and had to make regular trips to Cafe Aloha in Botley.

“It really has been a hassle.”