Raw Deal helps solve the problem of leak in Dumfriesshire home caused by a loose BT phone line

IF, when the wind blows, your ceiling starts to leak, probably the last thing you’d think of is that your phone is to blame.

But that’s exactly what happened to Rose Hogg, of Langholm, Dumfries & Galloway.

Rose had noticed a damp spot on her ceiling.

She got a slater to have a look at her slates.

It transpired that her phone line, stretching over from the pole beside her house, lay loose on her roof.

On stormy days – and in Scotland the wind gets up a good blaw quite often – the cable whiplashed back and forth across her roof.

This lashing had lifted some of the metal clips holding down the slates, letting in the rain.

Rose first noticed this on December 29, 2015.

She has had several BT Openreach engineers come to visit since, each trying a tweak here, or a tightening there, but there wasn’t an awful lot they could do.

What really needed to happen, and all the engineers mentioned this, was for the pole to be given more height. But that’s not very easy to do.

There are all sorts of rules and regulations surrounding the siting of poles, the height of them, and the land they are implanted in.

Despite the almost universal agreement on what the problem was, Rose didn’t seem to be able to get anything done – and all the time, when the wind blew, the cable kept damaging her roof.

This dragged on, with the cable dragging across the roof too, to January of this year when Rose reckoned she’d had enough. She decided to get in contact with Raw Deal.

We also thought Rose had suffered enough and had a discussion with BT.

The replacement of a telegraph pole (as they used to be called) isn’t a straightforward business.

Before they can act, BT must have a “wayleave agreement” in place.

A BT spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear about the concern this matter has caused.

“Unfortunately, the work has been slow to progress in this case as Openreach hasn’t been able to obtain the necessary wayleave agreement to site a higher pole where it’s needed to raise the cable away from Rose’s roof.

“We’re escalating this matter to see what can be done to move this stalemate forward.”

It took a while, but the problems were eventually resolved.

Rose got in touch with us last week to say: “I am relieved to tell you that Openreach men came yesterday and put in a new, and higher, pole.

“Then today they came back again and raised the cable – so the problem is now, at long last, solved.

“It has taken 14 months to get there. I think Openreach should have fixed the cable without all the worry and upset

“I must thank you, Raw Deal, for your help.”

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