Properties close to the busy Sovereign crossroads at Shepley were without phones or internet links after a telephone pole was damaged in a car crash.
Now the director of one of the businesses affected has hit out at delays in restoring connections – after being told the pole cannot be replaced until next Thursday.
But after intervention from the Examiner, BT said they were repairing the pole today.
Traffic was diverted away from the A629 Penistone Road near the Sovereign crossroads after a car smashed into a telegraph pole at about 8.20am on Monday.
The crash caused the pole to split and it had be taken down. The road was sealed off as a safety precaution while Kirklees Highways officers made the area safe. The road reopened at 2.45pm.
But a handful of houses and businesses – including the Sovereign Inn and camper van firm Wellhouse Leisure – were left without phones or internet connections.
David Elliott, director at Wellhouse Leisure, said patrons at the pub were being asked to withdraw money from the cash machine at the nearby petrol station – which was not affected – to pay for meals and drinks because the pub could not process payments by card.
Mr Elliott, who has been working from home part of the time since the incident, said: “I cannot believe in this day and age that a piece of wood splitting can bring everything to a stop.
“We can’t take payments and we have no phones. It’s an absolute nightmare – and BT would not even acknowledge there was a problem until late on Monday.”
Mr Elliott said BT Openreach had told him phones lines would be working again on Wednesday, but was then told the telephone pole would not be replaced next Thursday – more than a week after the incident.
