FRUSTRATED custom-ers have hit out at BT over repairs to phone lines which have taken more than a week.

Hundreds of homes and businesses in Stanton Harcourt and Sutton lost telephone and Internet connections last Monday when 1,600 metres of wire was stolen.

In Saturday’s Oxford Mail, BT pledged to “work through the weekend” to fix the problem. But yesterday, it emerged that work was suspended on Friday night.

Harcourt Arms pub and shop assistant Sammy Leggett, 25, said: “No-one can understand what’s taking BT so long.

“I am annoyed as we haven’t heard anything, just rumours.

“The pub is losing business as the card machine isn’t working so if people turn up and can’t use their cards, they are stuck.

“Also, it can’t take bookings as the phone just rings, so customers may think it’s shut.

“The shop isn’t too bad as we have mobiles and we can call our bread orders in, and luckily the egg lady is local so she still came, even though she couldn’t get hold of us.

“It must be tough for people who work from home – I am sure there will be compensation claims.”

She added: “Some of the old people haven’t got mobiles. If they needed to ring 999, how will they do that?”

BT spokesman Paul Hayward said work was postponed due to safety concerns for engineers working on the repairs.

He added: “This is a complex repair involving the replacement of about two kilometres of underground cabling and necessitating a road closure.

“We have been doing all we can to try to get repaired as quickly as is possible.”

He said the road was due to be closed between 6.30pm last night and 6.30am today so that engineers could carry out the repairs in safety.

He added: “As long as work progresses well and we don’t hit any unforeseen problems we are hopeful that the vast majority will be back into service by Tuesday evening.”

A police spokesman said the theft was still being investigated. Anyone with any information should call detectives on 08458 505505.