Thousands of residents in Maghull were left without internet for several days after an Environment Agency contractor accidentally damaged fibre optic cables while repairing a culvert. The incident, which occurred on Thursday, affected up to 3,000 Openreach users, leaving them without landline and WiFi access. Many were still without service as of Sunday.
Contractor Strikes Underground Cable Network
The Environment Agency confirmed that its contractor struck an underground cable network during excavation works for culvert repairs. Openreach engineers worked through the night on Saturday to assess the “significant damage,” stabilize the site, and begin repairs. An Openreach spokesperson stated: “Our engineers worked around the clock to repair the damage and all affected customers should now be back in service.” They added that residual faults may occur after complex repairs involving multiple cables and advised anyone still experiencing issues to contact their service provider.
Local MP Criticizes Response Time
Sefton Central MP Bill Esterson expressed frustration over the outage, calling it a “really serious” matter that impacted essential services. He said on Sunday evening: “Hopefully anyone who hasn’t been reconnected yet soon will be.” Esterson noted that the damage affected pharmacies and GP surgeries, and he plans to question Openreach about the delay. He also acknowledged the efforts of engineers, stating: “A big thank you to everyone who has gone above and beyond to sort this out as fast as was safe to do so.” However, he emphasized that the Environment Agency must investigate why the incident occurred and how to prevent future occurrences.
Residents Share Frustration on Social Media
Maghull residents took to social media to describe the impact of the outage. One woman shared that her elderly grandmother, aged 100, relies on the internet for an alarm system and communication via email and FaceTime. She said: “This has caused such a nightmare for my parents… All of these rely on the internet. My dad’s had to set up a hotspot that uses mobile signal for internet and reconnect all the devices to it.” She noted that they only learned of the outage through online news, as her grandmother could not contact them.
Environment Agency Investigation Underway
The Environment Agency issued a statement: “We are investigating the circumstances surrounding damage to cabling caused by our contractors whilst carrying out river maintenance works and apologise on their behalf for the impact that has had on Openreach customers in Maghull.” The agency is looking into the incident to prevent similar issues in the future.
