Broadband restored in Beaminster four days after car crash outage

Broadband has been restored to a town more than four days after a car crash knocked out services to about 1,000 customers.

Homes and businesses in Beaminster, Dorset, lost their internet service on Sunday when a car crashed into a telegraph pole and burst into flames.

Openreach said engineers worked through the night to restore services, describing the repairs as “complex”.

The company said they would remain in the area and urged anyone still experiencing issues to contact their service provider.

An Openreach spokesperson said: “Our engineers worked through the night to reconnect the damaged cables and restore service.

“The repair was complex, but it’s exactly the kind of challenge our teams are trained for – they worked quickly and safely to get the job done.

“Customers affected by this week’s disruption should now be reconnected to the network and back in service.

“We’re grateful for everyone’s patience and understanding.

“If anyone is still experiencing issues, please contact your service provider as soon as possible – our engineers remain in the area and are ready to help.”

The road between Beaminster and the A356 was closed due to the fire in White Sheet Hill at about 22:45 BST on Sunday.

Dorset Police said it was still trying to locate the driver.

Dorset Council arranged for the burnt-out vehicle to be removed on Tuesday.

The outage also knocked out phone lines, affecting schools, a GP surgery, businesses and people working from home.

Dorset councillor for Beaminster, Craig Monks, said: “We will need to ask questions on how this was allowed to happen and how resilient our connection is.

“The internet is vital to residents and businesses.”

Openreach said it reviewed all incidents to see if lessons could be learned.