A SICK pensioner has blasted British Telecom bosses after he was left without a telephone for more than three days.

Dennis Marsden, 71, was among dozens of people living in the Larkhill area of Blackburn whose phone lines were cut off in the early hours of Friday after a cable fault.

Telephones in more than 100 homes were disconnected after water seeped into the cable.

The customers were assured the problem would be solved by Saturday, but they were still unable to make calls early today

Mr Marsden, who suffers from chronic breathing problems, said he relied on his telephone in case he needed an ambulance.

He has been admitted to Queen's Park Hospital 12 times in the past three years through his condition.

Mr Marsden said: "If I fall ill I have to call an ambulance to take me to hospital.

"I would not have known what to do if I fell ill without a phone."

Sandra Randles, the warden for the Shearwater Drive estate, said: "My intercom line to 33 tenants has been dead since Friday.

"There are many vulnerable people in these homes who rely on a telephone and I was told on Saturday that it would be Monday before the fault could be repaired. That is not on."

A BT spokesman said 115 customers were affected by the cable fault.

He said the plastic shield protecting the cable had split and water had seeped in to cause the fault on the lines.

He said: "We are aware that a number of customers rely on their phones and we focused on sorting out their lines first."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.