Raw Deal: Cows kept moo-ving the line – it was udder chaos!

PAULA REID lives on a farm amid the rolling hills of Dumfries & Galloway.

It is a beautiful part of the world, not too far from the Solway Firth.

It’s a little bit remote, however, so good phone lines are essential for anyone who has to retain a digital connection – and nowadays that’s everyone.

The telegraph poles leading to the farm were quite aged. In fact they became so decrepit that BT condemned them and took them down.

As a temporary measure, they laid a ground cable.

This, however, lay on top of the ground, stretching across two fields.

Now, for a normal householder, this wouldn’t be much of a problem. But Paula runs a working farm.

The fields that the cable ran through are used for keeping sheep and cattle.

The cows kept moving the cable and the sheep trampled back and forth over it.

They tripped on it, squashed it, nibbled at it and got it caught up between their legs.

The phone and broadband connection was being broken at least once a week.

BT Openreach kept promising to erect new poles, but this never seemed to happen. They did, to be fair, get out to reconnect the signal.

After six months of this, and some evidence that a few sheep had hurt themselves on the cable, Paula grew tired of all the delays.

She told BT she would pay her next bill only if they could restore her line to its previous lofty position.

The farm had a bill that was coming up, but though BT kept saying they’d soon provide “an update” on the poles, there was still no promise of a permanent fix.

Paula contacted Raw Deal.

BT got out to put up new poles and, at last, raised the cable from the ground.

They went further than that, though.

BT emailed Paula to advise that she was entitled to £82.52 for being without service for 55 days for the period between December 2016 to July 2017.

They also awarded her £71.66 compensation, as a goodwill gesture. This £154.18 total cleared her account.

A BT spokesperson said: “While repairing a fault that was affecting Mrs Reid’s phone and broadband services, Openreach engineers provided a temporary fix by replacing a cable and planned for replacement poles to be installed.

The remote location and the farmer’s requirement for us to use specialised vehicles, meant there was a delay in installing the new poles.

“The work is now complete and we’ve arranged a credit of £154 to the account.

“We’re sorry for the delay and for any inconvenience.”

Paula told us: “Thanks for your help as without it I am unsure how long this may have gone on for.”

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