Powys residents left without internet after car crash
Villagers in Llanddewi[1], near Llandrindod Wells[2], were left isolated after a road traffic collision in which a car collided with a telegraph pole in July, cutting off the broadband supply to several properties. Residents say Openreach, which maintains the network, only reconnected them to the internet last Friday, September 12 - after at least 45 days without it. Problems arose after a car hit a telegraph pole on the A483 just outside Llanddewi[3] on Saturday, July 27.
Recommended reading The road was closed all day, and as a consequence of the damage the fibre cable supply to the Bedd Ugre side of the village was lost - this affected 12 properties. One resident who faced a significant impact was Ashley Bowles, who suffers from mental health difficulties, including Tourette's syndrome, autism, chronic anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder.
"It has been a very stressful and upsetting time for myself and my neighbours and I'm just glad it's over now," said Ashley. "As regards my Autism especially I need and crave a settled and uneventful life, so I have my dad up the road from me in Llanbister and he acts as my principal help and support. "I am very interested in electronics, computers and car mechanics, and my dad completely relies on me for computer support; I have a remote connection to his machine, which I built for him, so I can assist him on the fly.
"The lack of broadband not only affected my ability to download big files but also the mobile, which is an absolute lifeline for me. "The outage has caused me great mood swings that have been so severe I have smashed myself in the head, which is all part and parcel of my autism but also intermingled with my other conditions. "In turn it has really upset my dad and the rest of my family, so this problem has been widespread in the effects it has had on me."
Openreach has been accused of not responding to residents and also giving out false dates; one local said he had been given nine different dates on which repairs would be carried out. Ashley and others tried to find out what they could from their internet providers. 
"Openreach have been absolutely terrible in the lack of communication and we found ourselves in an impossible situation where the only company we could contact direct were our service providers," he said. "We were told that it was to be completed countless times and it never was. "Another unforgiving element is that when they actually fixed the problem they didn't let us know, at all.
It was only because I happened to try it that I discovered it. "The next thing is to try and get some compensation from our providers which they have promised, but nothing as of yet." An Openreach spokesperson said: "One of our poles was struck by a vehicle, resulting in a loss of service for around 24 customers in the area.
"Our engineers have already replaced the damaged pole and are expected to continue repairs tomorrow (Friday).
We're sorry for the delay."