PHONE lines in Eden that went down almost a fortnight ago have left a parish without means to get cash and pensioners without working safety alarms.

The majority of phone lines in Orton and the nearby hamlet Raisbeck were downed on December 6, leaving the parish without a working cash point and redundant chip and pin machines.

Orton resident Kathryn Nunn told the Gazette: "It's been over a week now so it's a real issue.

"There's no mobile signal so it's really hard to have a phone conversation and I'm using messenger on Facebook to get through to people.

"With no bus service, some pensioners are unable to get cash out to buy supplies.

"And if there was an emergency what would they do?"

Sally Seed, of Orton, said: "I know that the hamlet of Raisbeck has nothing at all and there are various elderly people with Eden community alarms there and in Orton and they aren’t working as they need a phone line to operate."

But although the cash point has been out of action, some people have been able to access money through certain banks at the post office.

"My neighbours don't have the right card but they don't want to go out when there's bad weather and it's dark," added Ms Nunn. "This is a busy time and there will have been lost business if people can't use the cash point or chip and pin machines."

However, Ms Nunn said local businesses, including Orton Village Stores and Post Office, have been "helping out" by giving locals IOUs.

She added that residents had been told by BT that phone lines might "not be working until January 5".

But a BT spokesman, speaking on behalf of network provider Openreach, said: "A junction box has to be replaced along with ducting and cabling. It is quite a complex operation.

"We have no indications that the faults were caused by other engineering work in the area and we apologise for the disruption to people’s service in Orton and we thank them for their patience.”

He added that engineers were fixing the lines yesterday (December 17) and expected to complete the work and have lines back up and running with a normal service by the end of today (December 18).