Telecoms engineers are working hard to repair damaged underground cables serving homes and businesses with phone and computer connection in parts of Calstock.

Residents are having to travel to supermarkets and other places if they want to use public phones or to receive mobile and online signals. Engineers are expected to to be on-site through the night tonight, Wednesday. Traffic delays are likely as roads have to be dug up to pinpoint the source of the problem.

Lindsay Webber, of Harewood Road, Calstock, had to travel to a shop to use a landline after her internet and landline service was lost yesterday.

She said: “It’s very inconvenient not to have a landline or internet service. The mobile service has also gone. But it’s more than that because if I can’t make an emergency call or make one then I won’t be able to respond if there’s something happened to my husband for instance. He had a stroke in the past and if he’s had trouble again while he’s at work, then I won’t know anything about it. My mum also has one of those lifeline alerts she wears round her neck to contact me for help automatically. I need to know what’s happening. It’s really worrying.”

She said the cut-off had affected Fore Street and she knew of friends who had travelled to find a phone.

An Openreach spokesperson said: "Engineers are working to repair damage to cabling in our network, caused by a third party, which is impacting some phone and broadband services to around 200 local homes. We're sorry for the unexpected break in service and we're treating it as a top priority.

“We're organising traffic management to carry out repairs safely and bringing in specialist equipment to suck mud and sludge out of our underground network. We'll have engineers on site tonight to pinpoint the damage and start next steps to replace the cable."