'Internet has been down for 23 days - I am losing money'

The owner of an online sweet store said he lost "thousands of pounds" after his internet and phone line were knocked out.

Justin Alexander, who owns Marley's Confectionery, based in Buxhall, Suffolk, said a lorry hit a telegraph pole on 6 November, causing a loss in service.

He said at least four businesses and about 10 residents were affected by the incident.

Openreach, which runs the UK's digital network, apologised for the delay and said it had "done the majority of the work already" and it was a "priority" to get people connected back to the network.

Mr Alexander said being without internet and a phone line had "completely killed trade" and he had to work from home in the evenings as the internet there was working.

The businessman also said he had to keep some staff off work as there was not anything for them to do as far fewer orders had come in.

Mr Alexander estimated he had lost "tens of tens of thousands of pounds in trade as people can't get in touch with us".

Mr Alexander said felt "fobbed off" by Openreach over the delay, adding: "We're not in the Highlands of Scotland".

An Openreach spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the delay here, it’s taking longer than we’d hope to get things sorted and understand how frustrating that is for local homes and businesses.

"We’ve done the majority of the work already, including replacing one of our poles, after the previous one was badly damaged.

"Our engineers now need to connect people living nearby back to the network, and this is a priority for us and will happen as soon as possible.”

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