UPDATE: Village phone lines could be restored after '˜attempted cable theft'

West Chiltington and its surrounding areas were hit by the incident on Thursday (April 13) but the network provider says the problem could be fixed by the end of the day (Saturday).

BT Openreach said the lines suffered damage after an ‘apparent attempted theft of cabling’, but engineers are working to fix it.

A spokesperson for BT Openreach said: “Openreach engineers have been successful in pulling in the new cable yesterday, and they started jointing the new cable this morning.

“They will work into the evening if required. As long as there are no unforeseen engineering issues we are hopeful of restoring services to the vast majority by the end of the day.

“If residents experience further problems after the main works are completed they should report to their service provider so that it can be investigated by Openreach.”