Phone firm acts over fault that put callers through to BT’s speaking clock

Villagers who found themselves on the receiving end of trouble whenever they tried to make a telephone call are now hoping their problems are over.
Callers have found themselves talking to BT's speaking clock SUS-190103-144035001Callers have found themselves talking to BT's speaking clock SUS-190103-144035001
Callers have found themselves talking to BT's speaking clock SUS-190103-144035001

For the past six weeks residents in Billingshurst have been put through to BT’s speaking clock when they tried to dial out on their phone landlines.

And frustrated callers were even being charged 50p a call for inadvertently accessing the time-annnouncement service.

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Scores of people in the village were affected by the phone glitch which they branded ‘silly’ and ‘a total pain’.

One woman, after getting the speaking clock several times, was also put through to the emergency services on three occasions.

Now BT and Openreach have investigated the problem and say the glitch has been fixed.

An Openreach spokesperson said there had been “an unusual fault in the switching equipment at our exchange, this has now been repaired.

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“We apologise to any residents affected and would like to assure them that we have taken action to broaden our fault coverage so that problems of this type can be detected sooner.”

He said anyone concerned about their phone bills because of the problem should contact their telecommunications provider.

“We encourage residents to report any faults in future to their provider who will then contact Openreach to investigate,” he added.