RESIDENTS of Callow End were waiting yesterday (Thursday) to see if their telephones would be reconnected, nearly two weeks after their lines were cut off by stormy weather.

Householders in Upper Ferry Lane were originally told by BT the work would not be done until the first week of December.

But the company backed down after being challenged by county councillor Tom Wells.

A BT spokesman had told the Malvern Gazette the work could not be done any earlier because Worcestershire County Council would not allow the road to be closed.

Coun Wells said he was furious BT had blamed the council: "We are willing to close the road with a day's notice to help get these people reconnected. I'm amazed at BT's audacity in blaming it on the county council.

"I found out that BT had made an application, before the storm, to close the road to do some routine work in Upper Ferry Lane on December 2. So they were obviously happy to wait until then."

By Wednesday, BT and the council were in talks and the phone company agreed to send its engineers to do the work yesterday.

Yesterday morning, resident Anne Hayward said the road had been closed but BT had just informed her that its engineers would not now come out until today.

"They could not give me any reason, they just apologised." she said.

She said residents were fed up, not only at the delay in getting the service restored, but at the lack of information from BT.

Meanwhile, several households in Mathon were also waiting to get phones back. Resident Roger Parkinson said they were frustrated by their inability to get details from BT about when work would be done.

"There just seems to be no way to get through to anyone who can tell you what's going on."