Anger over roadside BT box left damaged for two YEARS

The junction box - in Haywards Road, Haywards Heath - has now been branded an eyesore.

And town mayor Sujan Wickremaratchi said this week: “I’ve been trying to get it repaired for the past year or so.”

Frustrated resident Arnie Wilson, from Ashenground, first took photographs of the damaged junction box soon after a lorry backed into it in June 2013.

He said: “It’s still there, squashed and buckled and it seems to me that it may be there till the end of the century and beyond unless someone takes responsibility for it.”

And, he added: “The fact that it has been in this crumpled state for two years and probably more moves it into the category of comical farce.”

Correspondence about the junction box and responsibility for its repairs has gone to and fro between various authorities.

A spokesperson for West Sussex County Council said on Monday: “This transformer is on a private road called South Road Service Road. It’s a BT cab which we reported to BT months ago.

“As this is on private land we have no jurisdiction to force a fix.

“Apparatus such as this is owned by utility companies and they are responsible for their repair.”

Mayor Sujan Wickremaratchi added: “It is a shame that it takes so much effort from all to get a simple issue resolved.

“I am appalled that BT still has not done anything about it.”

An Openreach spokesman told the Middy on Tuesday: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we are very sorry for the delay in providing a repair to the green road-side cabinet on Haywards Road.

“Our records show that the green cabinet was damaged due to a road traffic accident. The accident did not affect service to customers in the area.

“Openreach engineers are now working as fast as they can to replace the cabinet shell as soon as possible.”