RURAL pockets of Cornwall remain without internet a full month after Storm Goretti battered Cornwall.

Audio book producer Mark Pugh and his wife, actor Elaine Claxton, live in the tiny hamlet of Cucurrian, near Nancledra in West Penwith. A cluster of 11 houses has been without internet since January 8, with “no end in sight”.

While BT “improved once the complaints department got involved”, Mark reserves harsher criticism for Openreach, citing a litany of errors he puts down to “ineptitude”.

“They blamed lines down, then suggested the fault was underground, in a field, somewhere. They sent engineers who signed the job off as solved, only for us to find they had ‘fixed’ the copper lines we haven’t used for two years. They sent us a back-up that works with 5G - we barely even have 4G here.

“I’ve been through various phases: disappointment, anger and now cynicism. I have lost count of the times I’ve been told, ‘It’ll be fixed tomorrow.’ I’ll believe it when I see it. My feeling is that unlike National Grid, who have been superb, Openreach just doesn’t have enough engineers.”

No internet makes work difficult. “I can visit relatives, but their speeds struggle with the huge files I need to up- or download,” says Mark. “I spend a lot of time in Costa, and there’s a knock-on effect of fuel and data usage.”

Mark and Elaine were upgraded to full fibre two years ago and were initially grateful for the faster connection. “When it’s working, which is 99 per cent of the time, it’s fantastic,” said Mark. “When it goes wrong, it lets us down completely. We asked them not to take the copper lines away for this reason, but were told no.”

The couple’s plight mirrors that of the Dales - Leslie, 87 and Janet, 79 - in Perranarworthal, whose story we featured in January. They switched from copper to a digital landline two years ago, and were subsequently left without a fully-functioning landline between January 8 and February 3, during which time their daughter Elizabeth, who lives with them, was on holiday abroad.

Elizabeth confirmed BT assigned a regular contact to her parents, arranged for landline calls to be diverted to their basic mobile phone, and was discussing compensation for loss of service.

“I cannot fault BT for how they responded once we got through to the complaints board, but that only happened because I contacted the press and my MP,” she said. “My parents are from a generation that doesn’t like to make a fuss, and would have waited for something to happen, but we have neighbours within a mile of us who still have no working service.

“As I see it, a system has been put in place that is not yet fit for purpose in rural areas. If there is more bad weather, and there surely will be, we could find ourselves in the same situation.

“We had a phone line that worked when the power went down – why take that away? This isn’t progress.”

Jayne Kirkham, Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth met Openreach representatives on Tuesday [February 3] to discuss progress on broadband reconnection across Cornwall. The meeting aimed to hold service providers accountable and ensure clear communication around post-storm repair work.

“Cornwall’s infrastructure has been pushed to its limits by high winds and heavy rainfall,” said Ms Kirkham. “I’ve spoken with constituents whose homes have been badly damaged, vulnerable people who lost contact with the outside world, and others who faced days without power. We must learn from these experiences and plan ahead.”

Ms Kirkham learned how a key issue is that customers can’t report faults directly to Openreach, but must go through service providers. “When providers have limited customer service options, and you can’t get through to a human or by phone, it is really frustrating. It also adds another layer of delay while the service provider reports issues to Openreach.

“Openreach told me they provide infrastructure to around 650 providers nationally, with around six major ones in Cornwall. They also face delays because they have to apply to the council for road closures and pole replacements which can add time to repairs.”

Ms Kirkham emphasised the importance of reliable broadband, especially for people working from home and for rural areas with poor mobile coverage. “Openreach suggested that emergency standby satellite connections could be useful as temporary backup in future events,” she said. “I wonder if it may need emergency powers and resources similar to other essential infrastructure providers as demand for connectivity grows?"

An Openreach spokesperson said: “The meeting with Jayne Kirkham MP was constructive – we explained the challenges of the more complex repairs and listened to her concerns, with plans for further dialogue once everyone is back up and running.”

The spokesperson explained consumers “need to report faults to their service providers as they have a direct relationship with them”. Service providers report the fault to Openreach, provide repair updates and can arrange alternative connectivity. They are also responsible for establishing whether a customer is vulnerable and should be prioritised in an outage.

The spokesperson continued: “Storm Goretti has caused the worst impact to our network in Cornwall in recent memory, and since it was safe to do so, we've had teams of engineers working round the clock to repair the extensive damage.

“The majority of people are now back up and running and we expect everyone to be back online by the end of this week, bar just two or three repairs which we can't progress due to flooding or other matters beyond our control.

"Weather conditions have slowed down the completion of critical overhead work such as replacing aerial cables, as wind speeds and gusts are restricting the use of hoists, which can't be used in high winds for safety reasons.

"We’re very sorry to those customers still affected, but our engineers are working as quickly as possible to get to them. Unfortunately, the reality is that this type of repair work – closing roads, replacing poles and overhead cables – is complex and time consuming.”

Two meetings have been convened by Cornwall’s MPs to discuss and raise general questions regarding storm resilience and recovery. Tomorrow [Saturday, February 8], Jayne Kirkham, Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth, will host a meeting in the Barn Meeting Space at Trelissick from 11am to 12.30pm. In Penzance, Andrew George, Liberal Democrat MP for West Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly, will lead the meeting at St John’s Hall from 6pm to 8pm on Monday [February 9].