RESIDENTS in parts of Northumberland have been left without broadband access for two days.

People living at the villages of Crookham and Cornhill, near Berwick, have been without broadband since the early hours of Saturday.

Residents were also without phones for a period of time although this service was reinstated later in the day.

Those affected claim they have spoken to BT and been told a network problem is responsible.

They said last night they had been told their broadband will not be back on for between 24 and 48 hours.

The company was last night unable to say how many homes and businesses were affected, what the cause of the problem was or when the broadband service would be restored.

Lauren and Keith Elstob, who bought the Blue Bell pub at Crookham in May this year, lost their broadband and phone line at their home in the village.

The pub’s till system is reliant on a wireless network, which is currently unavailable.

The couple are currently working towards the reopening of the hostelry on Friday and say having to contact BT about the loss of broadband is a disruption they could do without.

Lauren, 28, from Newcastle, and partner of Keith, 35, from South Shields, said: “When you are setting up a new business, it is not ideal when the broadband and phone lines go down.

“We are not going to let it ruin our opening, we are definitely going to make it happen some how.

“It just makes it more difficult when you have got a million and one things to do anyway and when things you expect to be OK are adding to your issues.”

Columnist for The Journal and former national newspaper editor David Banks, who lives at Crookham, said his broadband had gone off sometime between 1am and 8am on Saturday.

His phone line also went off, but came back on at 1pm.

Mr Banks said there had been snow on Saturday morning but that the broadband stopped working before it fell.

He was unable to do his weekly Saturday night review of yesterday’s newspapers for BBC Radio Five as he is normally sent advance copies by email and uses Skype – both services he is now without.

Mr Banks said: “We do not have any broadband and when you consider the fuss the Government has made about rural broadband, if we are going to lose broadband for about four days, it will not just be an odd radio programme being unable to go on air.

“It is going to be slightly bigger and more important businesses will be affected.”

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