Village phonelines in meltdown

"It was very inconvenient, the phones were ringing here so we know that people were trying to get through to us, yet the phone went dead," said Mr Rose. "There was no recorded message to say that there was a problem and we don't know how much business we've lost as a result."
Mr Rose said that despite the 'silence' on local phone lines, he still received a call from a foreign salesman, much to the confusion of BT.
"The BT man was completely miffed by it," said Mr Rose.
Parish councillor Gordon Patrick, who runs the Old Post House, said it was "very upsetting" to find that for nearly two hours on both mornings, he was without a phone or broadband connection.
Chalfont St Giles junior school was also affected. Headteacher Andy Tagg described it as "a minor inconvenience" and confirmed that the school office has a mobile phone for use in emergencies.
A spokeswoman for BT confirmed that the problems on Monday morning had been cased by a fault at a telephone exchange and that the problem had been rectified straight away.