JUNE'S lightning storms have become an ongoing nightmare for one Suffolk couple, whose phone line was ringing dead for nearly eight weeks.Adrian Mills, 64, of West Mill Green, Bentley, had been waiting for BT to fix the cable fault which was caused by storms on June 8.

JUNE'S lightning storms have become an ongoing nightmare for one Suffolk couple, whose phone line was ringing dead for nearly eight weeks.

Adrian Mills, 64, of West Mill Green, Bentley, had been waiting for BT to fix the cable fault which was caused by storms on June 8.

But it was only recently the self-employed business advisor and his neighbour's line were fixed.

Although he now has a working landline phone, Mr Mills still has no internet or answerphone and is currently unable to use his digital cordless phone.

Mr Mills said engineers had dug seven holes in the road outside his house over the eight weeks in a bid to find the root of the problem. Soon, Mr Mills and his neighbour were the only two homes left with no landline.

He said: “It was becoming an absolute nightmare.

“BT should not be allowed to get away with this service just because they have a monopoly.”

Mr Mills, who lives with his wife and now works part-time in Colchester, is connected through Post Office Home Phones, who go through BT.

Mr Mills said: “We had been told all sorts of different things. They came and dug another hole outside on Monday, but I wasn't convinced they would ever find a fault there.

“The pattern all the way through has been they come out and dig a hole outside, then they go and we wait days for engineers to come out without knowing when and then they dig the hole and say they cannot find the fault. We were just left in limbo.”

A BT spokesman said: “Lightning damage can be very difficult and painstaking to fix, as in this case it has caused damage in multiple places in the buried cable. We would of course wish to apologise for any inconvenience this caused.”