BT mixup swaps villagers' phone numbers

Residents of a village in the Forest of Dean have been thrown into confusion following a mix-up by BT that's left dozens of them with each others' phone numbers.

After complaints that a cable had been damaged by rubbing against a tree, engineers arrived in Cliffords Mesne last week to sort it out. But once they'd finished, families in around 50 homes found that they'd been given a neighbour's phone number instead.

"It has been a totally bizarre situation, it was quite fraught for a period, but people are beginning to see the funny side of it now," resident Susan Fewell tells the Gloucester Citizen.

However, she adds, "There are quite a lot of elderly people in this area that need access to their landline; this has caused them some concern."

While some homes were reconnected to the right numbers on Saturday, most are still waiting. But, says resident John Franklin, "This is quite a small village and we all know each other quite well so it wasn't long before we worked out which number was which."

It's not the first time this has happened. Back in 2012, around 400 homes and businesses in Windlesham, Surrey, discovered that their phone numbers had been swapped around.

Some stores went for as long as three weeks with the wrong numbers, which couldn't be used for credit card transactions for security reasons. They say they lost a lot of business as a result.

And it's happened several times over the last year. Last June, for example, an Indian takeaway in Prestatyn started receiving calls for a nursing home - just two of 400 phone lines affected.

And in August, residents of a village near Evesham ended up with no internet and the wrong phone number after cable repairs, although this was sorted out within days.

BT has blamed the latest mixup on contractors working for Openreach, which carried out the repairs to the cable.

"Openreach is working hard to put things right and apologies for any convenience caused," it tells the Daily Mail.

"Anyone who thinks they may be affected by this unfortunate incident must report a fault to their communications provider - i.e. the company they pay their bill to - so a thorough investigation can be carried out."