Broadband cable damage 'could have been accidental'

Openreach workers told the BBC they were called to the site of the outage, near Trent Bridge

Damage to a cable that left thousands of homes and businesses in Nottinghamshire without phone and internet services could have been caused accidentally.

Telecommunications company Openreach had to replace 700m (2,296ft) of cable, which was damaged near Trent Bridge on Sunday.

The firm originally said the cable was "maliciously damaged".

However, on Tuesday, an Openreach spokesperson said further inquiries had led it to believe that "a third party" might have accidentally caused the damage, with it not being reported "immediately".

Lidl in Bingham was among shops unable to take electronic payments

The firm said properties "mainly in West Bridgford and The Meadows" were affected by the outage.

They included the Rivergreen Medical Centre, in Clifton, which said the loss of its phone lines and internet had "a massive impact".

Some patients told the BBC they had been unable to book GP appointments.

Some shops in Bingham were only able to take cash payments while the fault continued.

Openreach said all services were "back to normal" by Monday night.

A company spokesperson added: "We initially believed the cable cut to be criminal damage, but further investigation means we think this could have been accidental damage by a third party, that wasn't reported to us immediately."