Storm-hit villages left with no mobile signal

ANUMBER of villages in West Cornwall have been without mobile signal for almost a month, following damage to a phone mast as a result of Storm Eunice.

Residents in St Just and the surrounding villages Morvah, Pendeen, Trewellard and Carnyorth have had no mobile signal for almost four weeks, following the destruction caused by the storm between February 18 and 20.

The issue has affected a number of mobile providers, including O2, Vodafone, and Tesco Mobile, and is believed to be as a result of damage to the phone mast in the area caused by the heavy wind and rain from the recent storms. The residents have said they feel “isolated from the rest of the world” and have contacted their mobile providers several times regarding the issue, but the date for work on the phone mast to be completed has been frequently pushed back.

One resident from Pendeen said that he contacted his mobile provider, O2, and was initially told the matter would be resolved by March 4, but he has since been informed that it will be fixed between March 18 and March 28. Another resident, Ann Westcott, from Morvah, has said that her mobile provider, Tesco Mobile, told her the work to fix the mast would not be complete before March 21

Ann said: “We’ve been without a signal since Storm Eunice, which will be four weeks this weekend. I’ve had to make a five-mile round-trip to pick up a signal and last night I had six text messages, including one from my GP, and I also had a voice message from Tesco.

“In terms of day-to-day life, I can’t get payment authorisation texts from my bank, I can’t receive calls from landlines. For the first week, when we didn’t have landline or broadband either, we were completely cut off.”

Ann continued: “I buy and sell on Ebay and had to make the trip up the hill for a signal twice a day to see whether things had sold and get the buyers’ details. I also wasn’t able to do live bidding on auctions, so missed out on items I wanted to buy.”

Ann added that she has been in contact with a number of residents in her community, as well as in St Just and surrounding villages. She said that the issue has left people feeling “angry and frustrated”

“It’s not good enough, particularly in a rural area like ours. We all feel angry, frustrated and isolated – this certainly wouldn’t happen in a more densely populated area”, she added. “It is affecting not only people’s ability to stay in touch, but also their businesses.”

Vodafone was contacted for a statement regarding the issue, and the mobile provider has said that its local service was up and running on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Vodafone said: “One of our sites in the area was severely damaged by the recent storms, and our engineers were able to complete the repair work earlier today – the site is now back up and running. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused to our customers in the area while we carried out the repairs.”

O2 and Tesco Mobile have also been approached for a response to the residents’ concerns.