Hundreds of Phone Lines Out Of Action in West Ealing

Cable damage and gas leaks causing communications problems

British Telecom say around 900 phone lines are down in the West Ealing area because of cable failure caused by 'malicious damage'.

A spokesperson sent EalingToday this statement:

'' The damage was caused on Monday but Openreach was unable to get access to the manhole to start the repair until yesterday as a series of gas leaks had to be made safe by National Grid before work could start.

''Engineers are having to restore each connection manually, which is taking some time, and local people have asked us not to carry out works overnight to avoid disruption.

''We’re very sorry for the knock-on impact on local people. Those affected should contact their service providers to arrange for phone diverts to be put in place where possible. We would also ask local people to be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to the police.''

January 22nd 2011