AN elderly woman has been unable to use her panic alarm for more than two weeks because of a problem with her phone line.

Mary Bundy, 86, has hip problems and needs to use her care line to call for help if she sufferers problems at home.

She and her daughter, Pat Atkins, 56, haven’t had a phone line since everyone else in Eastwoodbury Crescent, Eastwood, had their phone lines cut off after a motorcyclist hit a telegraph pole two weeks ago.

But even after their neighbours’ lines were restored at the end of last week, the pair are still waiting to have theirs switched back on.

Pat said: “My mum’s had two hip operations.

“We got her the panic alarm and that’s how she has been able to get in touch with us or the nurses if she requires help.

“I was supposed to go away for a couple of days with my partner at the weekend, but I couldn’t in case something happened to her.

“I needed to stay in and look after her.”

Ms Atkins said both BT, the line provider, and Sky, their phone company, have been slow to help, with the latter saying they won’t treat the situation as an emergency.

A Sky spokesman said: “We are very sorry to hear about the problems Ms Bundy has had and we completely appreciate how urgent it is for her to have an active phone line.

“We are working closely with BT Openreach who are responsible for fixing the fault on the telegraph pole to resolve the issue as quickly as we possibly can.”

A spokesman for BT said: “It has become apparent that this fault remained as a separate fault after the repair works were completed following damage to the pole.

“We are urgently arranging an engineering visit to work on this remaining issue.”