A PENSIONER has slammed a phone company for sending him a bill, despite his line having been off for a whole week.

Francis Duckett was one of 140 people to be hit when construction workers building new houses cut through an underground cable last Thursday.

Engineers were working around Station Road, Huncoat, through the weekend to try and restore the connections, and claimed most should have been back on early this week.

But Mr Duckett, 69, said his line was still out today, and claimed BT had been fobbing him off with dates when the work would be finished.

He said: "To me that's not good enough. It's costing me an arm and a leg.

"I'm not prepared to put up with it, not when I pay top rate for a phone and you get a second or third rate service.

"I am stuck at the moment with a wife ill in bed. I cannot go and leave her and go to town because I can't get in touch with her.

"The nearest phone box is quite a distance, and I can't walk that far. I shouldn't have to just because BT can't fix a line.

"In this day an age it is a disgrace."

Now Mr Duckett, who is disabled after two knee replacements, has to rely on his mobile phone, even to phone BT themselves to complain.

And on Tuesday he received a bill from the company, which he said just made things worse.

He said: "I got the bill on Tuesday, and it has to be paid by Monday. It was dated August 12 but I didn't get it until Tuesday.

"That's just rubbing salt into the wound."

A spokesman for BT said it was 'unfortunate' a bill had arrived this week. He said: "The repairs to the damage caused to our local cables has been completed and we are in contact with Mr Duckett to pursue his individual difficulties."