There are fears that some Sheringham residents could be without a mobile phone signal until February next year.

At Tuesday's town council, Steve Talbot and Peter Burns said they had contacted Vodafone about the absence of its signal - and were told of the possible delay.

Sheringham district councillor Richard Smith said he had been told 'three times' by Vodafone that he would be contacted 'shortly' about the problem, but still 'nothing has been done'.

The issue has been ongoing for a month, after a mast was removed from the former fire station on Cromer Road ahead of the planned Tesco store.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said his son paid extra for a special package, allowing family members to talk to each other for free. He said it was 'impossible' to now use this service and feared they would not be compensated for this. Other residents said they have been offered �5.

A Vodafone spokesman said: 'We understand that it can be very frustrating for our customers when they lose mobile coverage but we have to make it clear in our terms and conditions that the nature of mobile communications means we cannot guarantee a service at all times.'

A new station has been built near to St Andrews Close, which will replace the coverage when work is completed to link the new site into the network.