Leyburn Dunkirk veteran in battle with BT (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Leyburn Dunkirk veteran in battle with BT

2:38pm Thursday 25th October 2012 in News By Mark Foster

A DUNKIRK veteran who was one of Britain’s real “Band of Brothers” has branded BT a disgrace after being left without his landline for almost a month.

David Evans, 93, of Leyburn, had seven brothers, six of whom served in the Armed Forces during the war while the seventh toiled down the mines.

Three of his brothers still survive, but all live in different parts of the country and David, a widowed grandfather with health problems, uses his phone to keep in touch with them all.

But on September 27 his landline stopped working and since then he has had to use his mobile phone for all his calls – at a cost of some £100.

He was told it would take three days to fix, but then other phones nearby also developed problems.

On October 3 the retired policeman, who lives alone, suffered a bad fall at his home.

"It shook me up a lot, it was a nasty shock,” he said.

“I contacted BT the next day because I really needed my landline back in case something like that happens again.

"I live in the countryside so reception is not always great on my mobile and I know my landline will always work. I know I can rely on it in an emergency."

He contacted the company again on October 9 and a friend also made several calls about the fault. However despite being given dates by which the work would be done the phone remained dead.

"I've coped with a lot of things in my life, but I'm 93 now and have health problems,” said Mr Evans.

“Waiting for my landline to be fixed is causing me a lot of anxiety and it's making me unwell.”

A BT spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to Mr Evans and other customers who lost phone service in the Leyburn area. This was caused by a water damaged cable.

"Unfortunately, problems with the duct and the need for traffic management has caused delays to the repair. Half of the customers affected are now back in service and we hope to have all service restored by tomorrow (FRI OCT 26).”