A PENSIONER who was without a landline in her home for more than a month has finally been reconnected, but engineers who fixed the problem damaged her property in the process. 

As previously reported, Gwen Hugman’s friends and family continuously chased Talk Talk and BT Openreach to fix the problem, before coming to The Gazette as a last resort. 

The 84-year-old mother-of-three and grandmother-of-three, of Turnpike Way, Oakely, has her phone service provided by Talk Talk, but the line is owned by BT Openreach. 

After a story ran in The Gazette, Talk Talk arranged for engineers from BT to visit her home to restore the landline, but they broke some paving slabs at the front of her property in the process. 

Now, Talk Talk has told Mrs Hugman that she will need to negotiate with BT Openreach if she wants compensation for the damage. 

Her daughter, Julie Fearon, who lives in Kent and was unable to get hold of her mother whilst her landline was down, said: “It took them a couple of weeks after The Gazette’s intervention to sort it out. It’s not good really.”

She added: “Because BT were the people who did the work and caused the damage in the garden she’s got to negotiate with them to get them to fix it. But her contract isn’t with BT, it’s with Talk Talk. I don’t know if she will even go down that road. She’s just over-the-moon about having a phone back.”

She said the phone is a “lifeline” to her mother, who lives alone, adding: “Talk Talk have compensated her because they were taking direct debit so they have refunded that. But my mum is just happy to be back in the world of communication.”

Despite taking more than six weeks to fix, Talk Talk said it resolved the matter “as quickly as possible”. 

A spokeswoman for the company added: “We have apologised for the loss of service and credited Mrs Hugman’s account for the mobile charges. We escalated the work through BT Openreach to fix the phone line as quickly as possible, as Mrs Hugman has no means of communication.”

A spokesman for BT said: "All customers wishing to claim compensation should contact their service provider, in this case Mrs Hugman should speak to Talk Talk."