A MIDDLE Wallop man has hit out at Hampshire County Council after workers cut through a cable leaving the area without phone lines or internet for a day last week.

Businessman Kelvin Pinchbeck was left ‘despondent’ after council contractors cutthrough the BT cable on Thursday, June 29, leaving his firm without an internet connection and potentially lost revenue.

The workers had turned up to install new drainage pipes at Middle Wallop crossroads at Station Road and the A343.

The director of dealership, garage and petrol station E.W. Pinchbeck & Sons said it was the third time in a year the drainage pipes have been replaced and the exact same workers cut through the cable the last time they worked on the site.

Mr Pinchbeck said he and others warned the workers not to dig as they had already damaged the cable twice before.

The workers laid the new drainage pipe but left ends of the cable sticking out of the ground, surrounded by a safety cage.

At the end of the day, BT employee turned up to assess the damage and fixed the cable.

Mr Pinchbeck labelled the situation ‘farcical’ and wondered why the workers did not use a shovel instead.

He said: “The cable was only nine inches under the ground and they knew it was there as they had been there before.”

The father-of-six added the family-run company potentially lost out on £5,000 of business due to the incident.

The 56-year-old is now asking for the council to compensate for his financial loss.

He added: “You’re totally despondent, why do they do it? It just gives you so much extra headache and extra aggravation.

“No one cares you’ve been inconvenienced. Why should we lose all that money through their incompetence?

“It’s not an accident, it’s incompetence, and it’s our taxpayer’s money that going towards it. And it’s not the first time.”

Councillor Rob Humby, Hampshire County Council’s executive member for environment and transport, said: “I am very sorry to hear of the inconvenience our contractor caused to local residents.

“The surface water drainage pipe which had collapsed has now been replaced and should cause no further problems.

“Although we obtain details of underground apparatus before starting any excavation in the highway, on this occasion a BT cable was considerably shallower than expected and was unfortunately damaged.

“We worked with BT to deal with the issue swiftly and restore the telephone service as soon as possible.”