A FARMER in South Warnborough has hit out after being left without internet access for more than a month.

Richard Porter said the fault with a BT Openreach line was affecting his farm, in Froyle Lane, and his haulage and storage businesses, which altogether employ 25 people.

The 70-year-old said he first noticed the fault on January 28, and it affected internet access and his telephone lines.

He said: “We lost two lines completely and three others were very crackly.

“If someone has tried to contact us on our website, then we’re not able to know and reply to them. It’s very frustrating.”

Mr Porter said he contacted BT to report the problem, but was told to contact his service providers instead, which he did. But, frustrated with a lack of progress, he tried contacting BT Openreach again in order to solve the problem.

He said: “I cannot get in touch with anyone in management for BT Openreach in the Basingstoke area, or any area for that matter. It’s all voice-activated or you get people who are in a call centre in India, which I haven’t found helpful.”

Engineers from BT Openreach were in South Warnborough on Monday afternoon after The Gazette contacted the company for a comment.

Emma Littlejohn, media relations manager for BT South East, said: “After surveying the area and assessing that we need to replace an overhead cable, we now need permission from the local council to close the road in order to complete a permanent repair of the service.

“We hope to be able to provide temporary service in the next day or two to ease the impact on this business.”