The village of Hedley is idyllic, has one of the finest gastropubs in the country, and is full of people of character and resourcefullness. Yet they continue to be denied any proper phone and internet connection - something that has been going on for years. I had a fairly stormy meeting with BT yesterday after their key representative came to the House of Commons.
The village’s situation is unacceptable and dangerous, especially in cases of emergency. I have met with locals, eaten in the pub, and spoken to the Parish Council representatives. We have also surveyed the village. They have provided a litany of dozens of complaints, with broadband being almost non-existent, and constant disruptions to phone lines. All of these have been given to BT.
BT Openreach needs to invest in upgrading the old telephone cables, something that I know their own engineers want to see.
The Journal today gave a full report of the story: http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/hexham-mp-demands-action-villages-6326045
The Journal wrote: "One of those complainants is Helen Greer, who runs the village’s award-winning gastropub The Feathers Inn, recently named among the top 20 in the UK.
She says poor connection has had a huge negative impact on her business.
“Our business relies on us taking reservations over the phone,” she said. “But we often can’t take bookings because we can’t hear people. Our broadband connection is slower than dial-up so relying on internet bookings is no better. Earlier this year we had no phone connection for up to six weeks, which was unbelievable. We have people from far and wide wanting to visit us as we’ve won many awards for the quality of our food, but what’s the point if they can’t get in touch?
“There’s a BT Openreach van in the village every week patching up a problem somewhere but it would be money better invested if they just replaced the old telephone cables.
I’m hugely grateful to Guy Opperman for tackling this problem head-on and taking it to the House of Commons. I just hope he can help us get this finally sorted."
For my part, I will update as the campaign continues, but I did ask their representative, why anyone would stay with BT given its woeful service, in the absence of improvements. In the meantime I cannot recommend the Feathers Inn more highly.
