Communications giant BT has apologised after more than a dozen homes in a south Norfolk village have been left without a telephone line for more than two weeks.

Residents living in Church Lane, Fundenhall, near Wymondham, have been affected by phone line problems since the turn of the year.

The fault has been blamed on water getting into an underground cable, which has meant that 14 customers are still without a working land line.

Parish councillor John Brooks, one of the affected residents, said the line had been playing up since after Christmas, but stopped working completely a fortnight ago.

'We have been finding it hard to talk to anyone at BT and no one seems to know when we will get our phone line reconnected. It is frustrating because it is an isolated village anyway,' he said.

A spokesman for BT Openreach said engineers were working on the fault, but it has proved difficult to pinpoint the location of failure.

'We are currently excavating to allow 35 metres of replacement cable to be installed to clear the problem. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused whilst this work is being carried out. We are doing all we can to get this completed as quickly as possible,' he said.