Crooks steal Climping and Ford phone cables again

The audacious crooks are believed to turn up in the dead of night in a van with BT Openreach stickers on the side.

They put up a striped tent over a manhole cover, force the lid and then use a winch inside the van to reel in the valuable copper cable.

Motorists think nothing of the official-looking workforce and the first anyone knows of the crime is when people pick up their phones or try to connect to the internet.

The phone lines went dead less than a week after being re-connected on Thursday, November 4.

Vulnerable, elderly people were among the victims, as Climping-based charity Crossroads Care was unable to take calls over its landline from clients requesting respite care and other support.

The charity was reduced to taking calls diverted to a single mobile.

“It’s been very difficult to reach and help our clients,” said spokeswoman Sue Cunningham.

Richard Clear, who runs Beaumont Engineering, on the Rudford Industrial Estate, said the latest interruption was just over 48 hours, compared with six days the previous time, although BT engineers were still working on the estate as some problems remained.

“It’s been a nightmare. Some people still hadn’t been reinstated from the last disconnection.

“We didn’t even have a connection to the emergency services.”

Mr Clear had his landline calls diverted to a mobile, but for some reason it was switched to a network with no reception in his office.

“We rely on the phone and the internet for most of our business, and certainly are losing business because of these thefts.

“I asked about compensation, but I’ve been told that in the small print it says if it’s because of theft, it’s not BT’s fault, so there is none.”

He estimated the phones had been off for more than 18 days this year.

Ray Steward, of Stewards Soft Drinks Ltd, also on the Rudford estate, was also frustrated by the latest disconnection.

“For it to happen four times is ridiculous. We rely on the phone for orders and if people can’t get through they will go elsewhere. What is the guarantee it’s not going to happen again?”

BT said it was doing everything possible to fix the problem. Police have asked people to report anything suspicious on 0845 60 70 999.