Village has had no phone signal for three months

Alexandra TitleyImage source, Alexandra Titley
Image caption,

Alexandra Titley is among villagers who have no phone signal and cannot access 5G, 4G or 3G data

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A village in Shropshire has had no phone signal for more than three months, leaving residents cut off from family and friends.

The problems arose when a phone mast in Preston Gubbals Lane in Bomere Heath broke in December, but engineers have been unable to access it to fix it.

Villager Alexandra Titley, said she has been unable to receive important phone calls from Birmingham Children's Hospital, where her daughter, 15, is being treated.

A spokesperson for Vodafone, which is responsible for the mast with 02, said it had been unable to access the site because of safety concerns following flooding in severe weather conditions.

Ms Titley said when the mast fell down, not only was she unable to get phone signal, she could not access 3G, 4G or 5G data.

"For us it has been really bad because my daughter is really ill at this particular moment, very ill," she explained.

"We are receiving lots of calls from medical professionals, particularly from Birmingham Children's Hospital.

"And we have missed several phone calls from them and they are not the sort of people who are easy to get hold of once you miss a call.

"And actually, one of those calls was some of her blood work was extremely wrong and she needed to be in hospital."

'Water levels dropped'

A spokesperson for Vodafone said engineers had been "frequently visiting the site" to assess when it could be safely accessed.

They said: "The team have ascertained that water levels have now dropped to a safe level and will be carrying out electrical safety tests imminently."

An O2 spokesperson added restoration would be completed "as quickly as possible".

Shropshire Council has said a Vodafone engineer would visit the site again in early April.

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