Playgroup owner left in the lurch and film extra misses work due to EE signal problems in Royston

A playgroup owner and film extra have spoken of their intense frustration after being left without phone signal for almost two weeks in Royston.

Anne Walls, who runs Papillon playgroup in Jepps Lane, has missed important work calls after completely losing signal in her home in Poplar Drive ever since Storm Barney hit the town last Tuesday.

She said: “I have never had any problems before. It’s proving to be a nightmare. I have had staff trying to contact me but they can’t get in touch.

“My son works early and so usually gets a text from the person who gives him a lift. At the moment he is having to call the landline at goodness knows what time. You don’t realise how much you rely on mobile phones until you lose signal.”

Anne isn’t the only one to have been left in a difficult position due to the signal problems.

Glen Stanway, who works as a gymnastic teacher and film extra on major blockbusters such as Harry Potter, has lost hundreds of pounds in work. He said: “It’s a bit of a pain. With the film work, you usually get a text from the producers saying ‘text back by lunchtime if you are free to do a job’. There is a series called The Crown being filmed at the moment, and the other day they were even filming in Duxford.

“I never usually manage to get work on my doorstep so it would have been the perfect job. If you don’t answer your phone they will text less so then you get less work.

“They sent me a text the other day and I didn’t receive it until it was too late. I’m on a relatively expensive tariff too so it is annoying I am paying for this contract for nothing.”

An EE spokeswoman said: “We are aware that some customers in the Royston area have been experiencing signal issues due to a technical fault. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to assure our customers that we are working as quickly as possible to gain access to the site and restore full signal.”