A HEAVILY pregnant woman was left isolated when a telecommunications firm cut off her telephone twice.

Diabetic Julia Sevin's telephone had been 'temporarily suspended' by communications giant Telewest, just weeks after the cable line had been installed at her Ingol home, near Preston.

The firm claimed it was due to an unpaid monthly bill - but Julia says two cheques had already been sent.

She received no warning about Telewest's actions - which also cut off her intruder alarm connection to the local police station for six days. When she complained to the firm, based in Frenchwood, she was told: 'You could still call 999'.

Julia added: "I no longer have a mobile phone. Once they had cut off my 'phone, I had no form of communication with the outside world.

"Had I gone into labour I would have been stranded because most of my neighbours work during the day."

She added: "They only told me they had cut me off afterwards, when I received a letter demanding money.

"My husband had sent two cheques which must have got lost in their internal system."

Julia was forced to drive to a phone box to contact her husband - although her doctor had told her not to get behind the wheel.

The couple then had to shell out £40 to have their alarm reconnected, almost six days after the first incident.

Then on Tuesday last week, four days after faxing Telewest to sort out the bill, the 'phone was cut off again.

Julia added: "It was the final straw. We rang BT and they have reconnected us. I dread to think what would have happened if I had gone into labour while stranded in the house alone.

"When we eventually contacted them, a woman threatened us about our contract before hanging up."

Her husband Yvan added: "Our 14-year-old son was on holiday too, so he wouldn't have been able to contact us if there had been an emergency.

"And if Julia had gone into labour she would have been forced to drive, which could have proved disastrous in her condition."

A spokesman for Telewest Communications said their accounts showed no payment had been paid so normal procedure had been followed.

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