Buxton phone mast damaged in arson attack needs to be rebuilt

In the run up to Christmas a phone mast on Lightwood Road, Buxton was damaged by fire.

The mast gave coverage to three additional masts meaning for over a month now residents have been without a decent phone signal.

For one vulnerable pensioner who lives on Sheraton Way the lack of coverage has cut him off from the outside world.

The 73-year-old said: “I am housebound and rely on my mobile to contact medical support and make appointments. The issue is putting many elderly and lonely people at risk.

“The talk of the town is that the mast was vandalised - but why would someone do that?

“I have nurses coming into my house and they are all saying the same thing that they are unable to get a signal which is worrying because people will be ringing them about appointments and they might miss them leaving not just me but other people in need.”

Bethan Williams said: “I’m on O2/Tesco we've had no signal since before Christmas.”I am being told they are working on the mast but we have not been given a date when our service will be up and running. It's causing so many people problems.”

O2 has apologised to customers and said its infrastructure partner Vodafone was working to restore the mast - but it needed to be removed and rebuilt.

A spokesperson for Vodafone said the arson attack caused extensive damage to the mast.

They added: "Unfortunately, this is a recurring problem of vandalism that all network operators are facing.

"Our network team are working closely with third party contractors to ensure the mast is safely taken down and once the site is secure, will begin the rebuild.

"The mast affected fed into three other nearby masts, leaving us with a bigger coverage hole than just the impact of one mast being out of service, and our team are now working to re-route those three masts.

"We know this is an inconvenience to customers and we're sorry - our team is working hard to restore services."