Lightning knocked out phones in Fife and Perthshire

Severe lightning strikes last week have been blamed for damage to telecoms services that is still causing problems around Fife and Perthshire.

Clive Hughes, 75, of Craigend Farm Cottages, near Scotlandwell, said he and his neighbours had been without phones for around eight days, with no sign of repair.

A spokeswoman for BT Scotland said: “Our engineers are trying to reach everyone affected as quickly as possible but, unfortunately, lightning damage is notoriously difficult to repair. We currently have three faults reported at Craigend Farm Cottages and we’ll get an engineer out to the site as soon as possible.”

It is also important that anyone experiencing issues contacts their own service provider, she added.