WORKING and family life have ground to a halt in south Cumbrian communities after more than three days without internet.

From last Friday in Millom and Monday in south Ulverston, residents have been struggling to do even the most basic of tasks after their service was cut off without any prior notice.

In spite of repeated efforts made by the public and a town councillor there is still no clear indication of when the issues will be fixed for hundreds of home and business owners.

Ulverston town councillor Andrew Butcher, who lives in the area affected, said: "It started for me on Tuesday, it was off all day Wednesday. It was an intermittent fault but then it went down completely.

"I got up on Wednesday and made a phone call to BT, asking what was happening but I couldn't really understand what they were saying.

"They said it would probably be on by 10pm on Wednesday night but getting up around 6am on Thursday morning still nothing."

Cllr Butcher was assured engineers were either already in Ulverston, or en route to the area, with later reports confirming Openreach employees were carrying out work in south Ulverston.

More so than being a significant annoyance for residents, business owners in the area have been unable to carryout simple tasks due to a lack of internet.

A garage owner, who did not want to be named, said: "I'm confused to be honest with it as the phones aren't down but the internet is.

"It's affected us. We can't take card payments, we can't do MOTs, that has a direct effect on us.

"I've had an extremely frustrating time with the supplier, spending two hours this morning trying to get to the bottom of it and when it will be back up, but they can't tell me."

Cllr Butcher added he had grave concerns on the negative impact the internet outage will have on people's confidence to do business locally.

"There are companies which rely on broadband. There are three or four garages, small businesses, it's not good for them when we are trying to encourage people to shop local in this present climate. Small businesses can't afford to lose trade," he said.

Sarah Pearce, of Kennedy Street, who runs her own business, said: "You need the internet to order things from suppliers and people need it to get in touch by email, they pay via bank transfer too. It's a bit of a pain."

An Openreach spokesperson said: “A cable fault was reported to us on Wednesday morning and engineers started work on repairs straight away. They worked through the night, when there was less heavy traffic, to replace 250 metres of fibre cabling on the North Lonsdale Road. The cables were reconnected on Thursday morning and all services are now restored. We’re sorry for the impact this had on local broadband services.

"We’ve had a separate, unrelated cabling fault in the Millom area. Five faults have been reported and two engineers have been out in Millom today and expect all services to be restored by Thursday night."

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Read the statement here provided by UHMBT on mental health support in south Cumbria:

Sue Smith, executive chief nurse and deputy chief executive at UHMBT, said: “For some women, pregnancy and childbirth can trigger existing psychological problems or result in a first time experience of mental health issues. “At UHMBT, we have two specialist perinatal mental health midwives who support mums that are at high risk of, or are currently experiencing, mental health issues during pregnancy or after childbirth. This is in addition to the care received from their usual midwife. “Our specialist mental health midwives support women and their families from their first antenatal assessment, after birth and for as long as is required. “If mums are found to be at high-risk of experiencing mental health issues in pregnancy or after birth, they have the option of speaking with a psychiatrist or Consultant Obstetrician at our antenatal clinics, or they can access talking therapy sessions with their families. “All of our midwives complete mandatory training for perinatal care, and our two specialist perinatal mental health midwives have completed a ‘train the trainer’ programme which enables them to continuously share their knowledge and experience with our maternity teams across Morecambe Bay. “Our specialist midwives are also currently working with NHS colleagues and voluntary organisations across North Lancashire and South Cumbria as part of a perinatal care branch of the North West Coast Strategic Clinical Network (NWCSCN). The network is working to establish a fully integrated and multidisciplinary community perinatal mental health service, and has recently been awarded a £365million investment from NHS England to fund improvements in perinatal care across the UK. “If you, or someone you know, would benefit from this service, you can refer yourself directly by contacting one of our specialist Perinatal Mental Health Midwives using the information on the Trust’s website at: https://www.uhmb.nhs.uk/maternity/maternity/specialist-midwives/.

"Your midwife, obstetrician, GP or health visitor can also refer you to the service. “There is a lot of support available for women experiencing mental health issues during pregnancy and after birth so if you feel you need extra help, please don’t suffer in silence. Speak to your midwife or other health professional and they can ensure that you get the help you need.”