Hundreds of homes have been left without a phone line after metal thieves stole copper cabling. BT bosses today revealed three cables were cut in Bradley in Bilston, with 260 homes including those in Tipton and Coseley affected.

Homes were still without a phone connection yesterday and BT has offered a £1,000 reward for information that leads to the successful prosecution of the thieves. BT first received reports of faults over the weekend, but the majority of phone lines were lost on Monday morning.

Since then, BT engineers have been working to get people reconnected following the theft of 141 feet of underground cable.

BT spokeswoman Emma Tennant said: “We know the cable has been cut in three places.

“We are not sure whether this was done all at the same time, or at several points throughout the weekend.”

She said they have had reports that properties including Batmanshill Road in Tipton, Salop Street and Wallace Road on the border of Bradley and Tipton and Great Bridge were affected.

Father-of-one David Burden said he realised his phone had gone dead on Monday morning.

The heating engineer from Purdy Road, Tipton said: “I was originally told it was a fault on the line, but then I saw the BT engineers and found out what had happened.

“I think it is absolutely disgusting that people would do this.”

The 31-year-old added: “The engineers told me the thieves would have had to use a van to pull the cable out of the ground. It is the lowest of the low. They just didn’t think, what if there was an emergency?”

Bookmaker Colleen Turner said it has been very frustrating not having internet connection.

The 41-year-old of Batmanshill Road, said: “You can survive without a land line because you have a mobile, but when the internet goes down it is very hard.”

A police spokesman said further inquiries were being made by officers as part of Operation Steel.

By Naomi Dunning

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