Poor phone signal puts elderly at risk - Essex villager

David Wells, 67, says he has not had a mobile phone signal since 28 March

Poor phone signal in a rural area has put the elderly at risk, according to a villager.

David Wells, who lives in Great Yeldham in Essex, said his mobile had not had a connection for a week.

"If older people are relying on the signal in an emergency and it fails, they're in trouble - especially out here in the sticks," he said.

A spokesman for Tesco Mobile said it was "working hard" to fix a nearby mast.

Mr Wells, 67, said the outage meant he had not been able to book a vaccination.

'Absolutely ridiculous'

"I can't believe we've now been off for nearly a week. It's just absolutely ridiculous," he added.

He said he had heard of signal problems in other villages too, including Belchamp St Paul, Ridgewell and Stambourne.

Mr Wells, who lives with his wife Angela, said some residents could not log in to various services because text messages were needed for authentication.

Tesco Mobile says it is working hard to fix the problem

Tesco Mobile customers in villages near Sible Hedingham have been having signal problems since 28 March.

A Tesco Mobile spokesman said: "We are aware of an issue with a mast in the Great Yeldham area which may result in some customers in the vicinity temporarily experiencing issues with their signal.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience and we recommend affected customers use Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi calling where possible until the issue is resolved."