VODAFONE customers around Burnham and Highbridge are still without mobile phone reception - a month after the problem started.

The Weekly News reported how local Vodafone customers complained of not being able to make calls or send texts since two days before Christmas, and as the paper was going to press on Tuesday, the issue was still ongoing.

A Vodafone spokesman said at the time that engineers had carried out remedial work but that the company had not been able to “get to the root of the problem”, but was “working on it as a matter of priority”.

But Weekly News reader Sarah Buchanan told the paper this week: “We are still utterly unaware of a fix date.

“So far we have been able to establish that there is a fault in the TA9 mast and it is being investigated, but they refuse to give us further information on what the problem is and when it will be resolved.

“I am trying to run a garden design business and rely on my phone everyday for new business. I have not been able to receive any business calls and dread to think of the impact this has had on my business.

“I contacted Jeroen Hoencamp, CEO of Vodafone UK, on January 10 because of the lack of information from Vodafone. But I have not had a reply yet.

“It's interesting because exactly the same issue happened last year at exactly the same time for over ten days.”

A Vodafone spokesman told the Weekly News: “We're very sorry customers locally are still experiencing problems.

“We have identified a possible 'line of sight' issue which might be disrupting the link between this mast and the rest of the network.

“We have arranged for engineers to carry out a survey, but as this requires them to climb the mast, we are waiting for weather conditions to be suitable.

“We are treating this as a priority and we'll do our best to get the site up and running as soon as possible.”

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