FED-UP people are speaking up about a communication breakdown that has left them without telephone services for a month.

Home-owners walked into the Worcester News offices in Hylton Road in despair complaining they have been without landline telephones and broadband services since at least March 3.

The affected area is around Himbleton Road, including King Arthur’s Close in St John’s, but curiously does not affect every household in Himbleton Road itself.

It has been reported by customers on Sky, Orange and TalkTalk providers – but the lines themselves are still owned and maintained by BT Openreach.

BT says 14 households have been affected and the problem should be fixed by today.

Delays in repairs have been down to BT engineers changing their minds on how best to fix the problem without disrupting road traffic, they say.

Meanwhile, calls made to the affected home phone lines have just been ringing out, although service providers have set up call forwarding to mobile phones – but this is of little help to people without mobile phones.

Irene and Malcolm Thompson, of Himbleton Road, said they believed up to 28 homes were affected after speaking with their service provider TalkTalk.

Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Thompson – who run a business from home – have had no calls, and have no home e-mail access.

“It’s BT who are supposed to be fixing the problem,” they said. “We just aren’t being told what is going on.

“TalkTalk told us it would be fixed within the first week, and here we are nearly a month later with no phone lines.”

Their neighbour Sally Steveson, who is also with TalkTalk, said she could get her calls forwarded to her mobile but was concerned for the welfare of the elderly and infirm who may not have mobiles.

“Where is the help for them, because particularly elderly people will just not have mobile phones, so what can they do,” she said.

She said her son, who was looking for a job, could well have missed out on e-mails containing job offers.

“It’s the sheer inconvenience – it has been a month now and we’re still without a phone line,” she said.

One householder in the road, who is with BT, said their phone line was working fine.

A BT spokeswoman said engineers had planned to replace the damaged cable “but given the busy location, were concerned about causing disruption to motorists.

“It was decided to make repairs during Sundays, but now engineers have found an alternative way to complete the work.”

She apologised to affected households saying “engineering challenges and other factors” had held up a speedier repair.