RESIDENTS in Dorchester have been left switched off after having intermittent phone coverage for almost a month.

Customers of O2 in the county town have been unable to receive calls or texts in the day.

A spokesman for the company has apologised to customers and said disruption is due to the mast being switched off at certain times while Wessex Water carry out works to the water tower.

But Chris Emblen, who works in Dorchester said the situation, which has now been ongoing for around a month, has left him feeling ‘frustrated’.

He said: “People rely on their mobile phones. I know of at least one person who has changed provider but that is not an option for people who have contracts.

“People come to visit the town for the day, on business or to go shopping, and they are unable to contact their families.”

He added: “I do understand that works need to be done. If something breaks down it needs to be repaired or replaced but if it is maintenance work that was planned, why could O2 not have warned customers about this in advance?”

Mr Emblen said that he receives no signal at all in the day, and texts and messages are received as he is driving out of Dorchester.

“It’s frustrating because you can’t phone up customer services to find out what’s going on, due to there being no signal.”

A spokesman for O2 said: “We have been asked to power down our mast for safety reasons so that Wessex Water contractors can carry out works to their building. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience.”

The disruption follows issues in September when scaffolding was being erected at the water tower. O2 said at the time it hoped to have the issue resolved by early October.

A spokesman for Wessex Water said: "While we're sorry to hear O2 custimers are having problems, we did make the service provider aware of the essential maintenance work planned for the water tower.

"The work involved repairing the stonework which has deteriorated time as the tower is many years old. 

"We hope to complete our work within the next few weeks."