THE recent hellish weather has left a rural Dorset vicar without a telephone for two weeks.

The Reverend Graham Perryman, rector of Crossways, Moreton, Tincleton and Woodsford, has had no land line, no fax and no e-mail since the storms on October 29.

British Telecom are transferring his calls to his mobile, but Rev Perryman, who lives in Moreton Rectory, has no answering machine, so is unaware if he is missing calls from his congregation.

He said: "The last time I used the phone was before the storms. Sometime between Sunday and Monday, the phone was cut off.

"It hasn't worked since then and I don't know what exactly is wrong with it.

"People can still get hold of me if they need to urgently, as BT have started transferring my calls to my mobile but it has been a problem, particularly not having an answer machine. I have spoken to BT on a few occasions to try to get it sorted out but nothing has happened as yet."

The Echo has already highlighted the plight of 74-year-old Ruby Beer, who was left without her phone at her flat in Dorchester as a result of the bad weather.

Mrs Beer, who lives alone, said she couldn't sleep at night because she was worried about not being able to call for help in a crisis.

Melvyn Cox, a spokesman for British Telecom, said: "The storms of October 29 did affect us quite severely and those problems have continued afterwards.

"Obviously, the weather doesn't distinguish between vicars and other people, but our engineers have been working flat out. We are hoping to get Mr Perryman's phone sorted out by the weekend.

"There are things we can do to help people, like diverting calls to mobiles, to neighbours or businesses, or leaving a message on the line saying the phone is out of order."