CRADLEY residents are furious at BT's failure to fix a fault with broadband internet access.

Up to 58 properties in the village have been without broadband access since Thursday, September 8.

Customers are angry the fault has not been fixed and that BT has not been able to tell them what is going on.

Tony Copp, who runs the village website, said: "People were reporting the fault to their internet service providers, who then had to report them to BT."

Last Friday (September 16), villagers kept a close eye on the local automated telephone exchange so they could accost any technician who visited it.

"This was how they found out that BT had logged 58 complaints and had declared a major systems outage", said Mr Copp.

He has posted updates in local shops to keep people informed about the problem.

John Edgar, though retired, still does some business consultancy overseas.

"I've got the best part of £3,500 stuck in India and I can't get it out," he said. "I've had contracts that I've had to renege on. I've been forgiven, but it still shouldn't happen.

"There are other people who do business from their homes using broadband and they are all affected. It's a mistake of some magnitude."

A BT spokesman said the fault had been caused by software that had corrupted during work to upgrade the exchange and all customers should have had service restored by the end of yesterday (Thursday).