Homes, shops and GP practice among 10,000 properties hit by 'nightmare' Nottinghamshire broadband outage
Homes, shops and a GP practice are among those that have suffered a "nightmare" internet and broadband outage across Nottinghamshire. Around 10,000 properties have been left without broadband after "malicious damage" was caused to the Openreach network.
The telecommunications company said the outage mainly centred around the West Bridgford and The Meadows areas but also included towns and villages such as Radcliffe, Bingham and Cotgrave. By Monday (October 14) afternoon it said engineers had installed 700 metres of replacement cables and expected all properties to be reconnected by the end of Tuesday.
Parts of Clifton have also been badly hit, including Rivergreen Medical Centre. NHS Nottinghamshire said the practice was still open but many of its services had been "severely impacted".
Linda Marshall, practice manager at Clifton Opticians, said they had been forced to cancel two clinics due to relying on the internet to access their records. “We’ve been badly affected by this outage. We’ve had to cancel two clinics this morning so it’s cost us large," she said.
"The internet is down and all the records are on the internet so we’ve not been able to access them. The people that book the clinics for us have cancelled the clinics so we’ve had to send the clinicians home and send the patients away.
"All patients will have to be rebooked and it’s cost us two clinicians’ pay today so it’s quite an expensive loss. It’s bad.”
Shops along Southchurch Drive have been unable to accept card payments, with several displaying 'cash only' notes in windows. One shop manager, who did not wish to be named, said: "It’s been an absolute nightmare and it’s been going since yesterday around midday.
"We had to shut early because of the issue and profits have gone down a lot. Most of the shops have no card machines working.
"It’s not good. We have deliveries coming in tomorrow and we couldn’t check the systems. We have to phone other stores and ask them to log in to our accounts and find out what’s going on with our deliveries. It’s a nightmare.”
Wayne Smith, who lives in Bransdale Road, Clifton, said he and his wife have been left without heating and lights since Sunday morning due to the outage. "We had had no internet since yesterday at around 11am. When you rely on it to work the heating, lights, plugs and cameras it's absolutely disgraceful," he said.
In West Bridgford, David Lloyd Gym said it was suffering "significant issues" which meant it has no access to tills, phone lines and emails. Co-op Food, Boyes and Bernado's charity shop in Bingham town centre have had issues with payment systems, according to a local shop worker.
A spokesperson for Openreach said: “We’re really disappointed that people living and working here are bearing the brunt of criminal behaviour and theft from our network. These attacks cause significant damage and unacceptable disruption to the lives of local people and put vulnerable people at risk.
“Work is well underway to restore broadband, with the new 700 metre cable put in place earlier today, and the first premises being reconnected this afternoon. “Our engineers are working as quickly and safely as they can do.”
“For many homes and businesses, broadband will be up and running later today, with engineers working through the night and into Tuesday to complete the remaining connections.”
Some residents in Lower Saxondale and West Bridgford said their internet had been restored as of Monday evening.