Residents from Plumstead, near Holt, left for eight days without phone lines and internet

Residents from a north Norfolk village have branded the loss of phone lines and internet for eight days as “unacceptable”.

Around 40 households in Plumstead were affected when the services were lost on Friday, September 14.

Resident Eileen Gibbons, 69, has lived in the village for most of her life and said it had been a serious problem for elderly people.

“If you had a mobile phone it would not have been as bad,” she said.

“But some of the residents in the village don’t have them and have to look after ill loved ones and they told me they don’t know what they would have done if they needed to call for help - it’s unacceptable.”

Mrs Gibbons said the incident had made her “scared and angry”.

Other residents complained about the cost of using their mobile phones and also the poor mobile phone network signal in the area.

Resident and retired teacher Stefan Bojanowski said the loss of the services had been an inconvenience and he imagined it was even worse for villagers who worked from home.

A BT spokesman said the cause was a faulty underground cable suffering from “suspected third party damage”. Engineers carried out repairs and restored services on the morning of Friday, September 21.

The spokesman added that those affected would need to check with their internet service providers to find out if they were entitled to compensation.