Phone lines damaged by rodents in North Devon

Residents have been without phone or broadband services since 15 October after rats damaged cables

Some homes and businesses in North Devon are experiencing issues after internet and phone lines were damaged by rodents.

The outage is affecting about 1,800 Openreach customers around the Bideford, Clovelly, Hartland and Horns Cross exchange areas.

Customers said poor mobile phone signals were adding to difficulties.

Openreach said it hoped services would be brought back online on Wednesday.

Andrew Rowlands, who lives in Hartland, told BBC Radio Devon that as he is in a rural area he has poor mobile phone signal and relies on broadband to communicate.

"My father died last week, so we need to be communicating, and most organisations now want you to do that electronically," he said.

"So if I want to check emails or anything like that I actually have to go out in the car to do so."

An Openreach spokesperson said: "We understand how frustrating this must be for anyone who is affected and thank residents and businesses for their patience.

"We encourage anyone experiencing any disruption with their service to report it to their provider who will them inform us."