A LITTLE while ago, Alan Brown, of Simonburn, wrote complaining about the very poor service that he had received from BT. He is not alone.

Two weeks ago my phone stopped working. I reported this to BT, only to be put through to a machine. This assured me that the phone was OK – it was not.

I kept reporting the fault every day for 10 days only to be met with bad mannered arrogance. Eventually BT agreed to get the phone checked out, but stated that the fault was in my house, and if this was the case it would charge me £129.99.

“Cometh the hour, cometh the man”. In the shape of Darren from Openreach. Prompt and cheerful, he checked my internal phone and found that it was OK, and that the fault was outside with the BT line.

With the help of his workmate with the hoist, this was quickly repaired.

I expect that Mr May be too young to remember when the Post Office ran the phones, the postal service – the post office where you could get dog licences, gun licences, postal orders, wireless licences, and even gossip about the local community.

Most villages had a post office. Hexham had three. Happy days.

ROY WALLIS,

Steel