Residents on an estate have been left with intermittent phone lines and internet connections after planned engineering works caused extra damage.

BT engineers have been working in Lovell Gardens, Watton, for the past fortnight and during this time residents have been experiencing drop-outs in their services.

Christopher Harris, of Lovell Gardens, said there had been 'masses and masses of problems', with some neighbours being told it could be another 10 days before their connection is restored.

'It is not acceptable, especially considering it is a service everyone is paying for,' he said.

'It would not be so bad if there was good mobile coverage, but there isn't, it is really patchy in Watton.'

'What if there is a serious accident and no one can use a phone? It has the potential to be very serious, and it is certainly very annoying.

'It's affecting different providers differently. My neighbour's phone and internet came back on on Wednesday. Mine went off on the same day.

'There was no notice from BT that there would be disruption to the service and we've heard nothing from them since.'

Ian Francis, also of Lovell Gardens, said his phone line has not been working since Monday.

He said: 'I'm a long-distance lorry driver so I've been away all week, but my wife is at home and doesn't have a mobile phone, so I can't call her.

'The thing I'm disgusted about is that no one sent us a letter to let us know that some disruption may occur. Furthermore, actually getting through to anyone to ask what is going on is very difficult.

'They are treating us with absolute disdain. They are not giving us any proper information. Meanwhile here we are, paying our bills.'

A spokesman for BT said there had been accidental damage to a cable during the engineering works, which was affecting some services in the area.

He said: 'Engineers have been onsite and will be working over the weekend to do all they can to get the repairs completed as quickly as possible.

'We would of course like to apologise for any inconvenience caused whilst this is being carried out.

'As long as there are no unforeseen problems we are currently aiming to have service restored to all by the middle of next week.'