Villages without phone signal after mast damaged

Vodafone said its phone mast in Ripley, Surrey, situated just off the A3, was out of service due to theft and damage of equipment

Villagers say a mobile phone mast has been out of service for more than a month, causing disruption to events and putting people at risk.

Vodafone said its mast in Ripley, Surrey, situated just off the A3, was out of service as engineers were carrying out repairs due to "theft and damage of equipment and cables".

Claire Grimes, committee member of the Ripley Farmers' Market, told Radio Surrey customers could not make payments at the farmers' market last month as internet service was affected.

A spokesperson for Vodafone said: "We apologise to any customers in the Ripley, Send and Ockham areas who are currently experiencing issues with their Vodafone signal."

BBC asked Vodafone to confirm when the theft took place and the exact date when signalling problems commenced.

Ms Grimes added market traders were "worried" repairs would not be completed in time for the next farmers' market due to take place on 11 October.

Claire Grimes is a committee member of the Ripley Farmers' Market

"Some traders are threatening not to come which is a disaster. It takes place once a month and it's well used by local residents," she added.

Ms Grimes said she first noticed mobile signal issues on 8 September and said she was "frustrated" about the disruption.

Ripley resident Philip Kite said he began experiencing signal problems at the end of August.

He said he contacted Vodafone on 5 September and was informed service would resume on 25 September.

"We still have no service. Last week I made a call for my elderly neighbour and while waiting for the ambulance, she recovered and I tried to call 999 to cancel it," he said.

"I was unable to do so, I had to rush back to my property to connect my phone to a wi-fi call."

Philip Kite said the lack of phone signal prevented him from phoning 999 for a neighbour's medical episode

Guildford borough councillor Patrick Oven said: "If someone needs to make an emergency call and can't do so then it's a life-threatening situation."

A spokesperson for Vodafone said the mast site needed to be "secured" first before engineers could replace the stolen equipment and damaged cables.

"Due to the electrical systems on site, this can pose a health and safety risk," they added.

"Requests relating to compensation are evaluated on a case-by-case basis."

They added engineers were scheduled to visit the site on 6 October "to make progress on replacing the equipment".

An spokesperson for O2 said they were aware customers in Ripley experiencing intermittent issues with their service.

"This is due to a faulty mast managed by our infrastructure partner, Vodafone, which is working to restore services to normal as soon as possible," they added.

They recommended customers to enable wi-fi calling on their device to allow them to make and receive calls.

Surrey Police have been approached for comment.

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