Car fire cuts off internet to homes and businesses

The car fire has caused problems in Beaminster

Hundreds of homes and businesses in part of Dorset are without broadband for a second day after a car crashed into a telegraph pole and burst into flames.

The road between Beaminster and the A356 was closed due to the fire in White Sheet Hill at about 22:45 BST on Sunday. Police said they were trying to locate the driver.

Openreach said about 1,000 customers had been affected by the outage.

In an update on Tuesday afternoon, it said Dorset Council had arranged for the burnt-out vehicle to be removed and engineers had begun work replacing the pole.

An Openreach spokesperson said: "With the burnt-out vehicle now removed, we've been able to fully assess the impact and begin restoration work.

"Installing a new pole and rebuilding the damaged fibre network is a complex task, but we understand how disruptive it is for local residents to be without broadband.

"We're working as quickly and safely as possible to restore services and get things back to normal."

Dorset Council is working to remove the vehicle to allow repairs to the broadband network

On Tuesday morning, Dorset Council said it had "begun the process of recovering the vehicle".

A spokesperson said: "We appreciate the public's patience and understanding."

Beaminster councillor Craig Monks said: "The reality of being disconnected from a utility like the internet is havoc for residents and business in Beaminster.

"Accidents happen but we need to urgently restore connection."

Silvana Bandini, owner of the Ollerod restaurant, said her landline was also down and she was using a mobile phone as a hotspot to access "basics" such as emails, booking systems and card payments.

She said: "Everything runs wirelessly - our printer is connected via wi-fi, so we can't print anything.

"Our music system is Sonos, which is all connected via wi-fi, so we have no music."

Beaminster Library said it was offering free wi-fi from 10:00 to 13:00 for anyone who needed it.

Dorset Police said officers were called to "a report of a vehicle fire following a single-vehicle collision in Beaminster".

A spokesperson said: "The driver was not in the vehicle and enquiries [are being] carried out to try and locate them."