Anger over loss of mobile phone service in upper Teesdale

FARMERS in the upper dale have been left without a mobile phone signal for weeks, sparking concern that they would not be able to call for help in an emergency.

The problem has affected customers of all service providers. Some people have had no signal for as long as five weeks. At least one service provider has confirmed there is a problem and has engineers working to fix it.

The project manager for Utass (Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services), Diane Spark, said: “It [mobile phone signal] is crucial on many levels – there is the basic one of being able to make calls in an emergency which is paramount, and on the social side people need to be able to chat and not be isolated.”

She added that farmers also need their phones to report suspicious and criminal activity, particularly in light of a recent spate of thefts on rural farms.

Emma Spry, whose family farm in the area, has been without signal for about two weeks.

She said: “My husband works up there all alone on quad bikes and tractors – it is imperative that he has a phone. It is a concern.

“I don’t know why the signal has dropped, you have to come quite a bit down the dale before you get a signal.”

Ms Spry said she had contacted her service provider which confirmed there had been a problem on November 3 and 4 but claimed it had been rectified. She was advised to visit the nearest service provider’s shop, which is 40 miles away, to replace her sim card if the problem persisted. Installation artist Steve Messam lost signal five weeks ago.

He said: “I have to come into Middleton to make my calls. All the networks are affected so it must be a power problem.”

Mr Messam said the 4G signal that was set up about 18 months ago had been excellent and he had given up his landline telephone, using it only for broadband.

A spokesperson for EE said: ““We’re aware of an ongoing issue affecting customers in the Newbiggin area, and apologise for any inconvenience caused. Our engineers are on site today, working hard to fix the problem and restore full signal.”

A spokesperson for Vodafone said: “We’re sorry if customers locally have had problems with the signal. We did see a reduction in the level in late October and early November but work on the site should have rectified this. If customers are still experiencing problems we will re-investigate.”

However, customers said they still hadn’t got a service as we went to print.