Numerous residents in Shotton Colliery, near Peterlee, reported a loss of broadband on Friday (October 3) and say they were left without internet over the weekend and into the start of this week.
Despite initially believing that the outage was down to winds brought by Storm Amy, Openreach, the network that runs the internet across the UK, has confirmed that the issue was due to a copper cable theft.
An Openreach and BT van(Image: BT/PA Wire)
The company say that the internet has since been restored on Tuesday (October 7) evening and Wednesday (October 8) morning in Shotton Colliery, but the firm has sent a warning to those who choose to steal copper cable and damage wiring.
An Openreach spokesperson said: “We’re deeply disappointed that this community is suffering the consequences of a criminal act targeting our network.
“Our security team is working closely with the Police to catch those responsible.
“Engineers have been working around the clock and have restored broadband services.
“These attacks cause extensive disruption to local lives, threaten the safety of vulnerable individuals, and result in significant inconvenience for residents and businesses.
“We urge people to call 101 to report any suspicious activity around our network to the police; if members of the public do believe a crime is in progress, then they should dial 999.”
It’s believed that residents on networks including Sky, BT, Vodafone, EE, and others were all affected during the outage, although Openreach confirmed that the whole of Shotton Colliery wasn’t affected during the outage.