MORE THAN 500 people across Monmouth were affected by a major disruption to local telephone services last week, costing businesses thousands of pounds in lost trade.

Around 250 lines first went dead without warning last Tuesday night, with many town centre shops and offices unable to accept credit card payments or make calls to customers.

BT maintenance crews worked around the clock from Thursday and on through the weekend to repair the cable which had caused the blackout, but in doing so, were forced to temporarily disconnect up to another 250 customers.

The five-day disruption affected residents as far afield as Rockfield and Wonastow Road - but it was traders who felt the pinch most of all. Tony Bevan, of Little Specials on Monnow Street, said: "90 percent of our money comes from credit cards, but without a phone line we lost hundreds of pounds of trade."

Commenting on the unscheduled works, a BT spokesman said: "It was an underground fault affecting around 150 to 200 metres of cable buried under Monnow Street. To enable workmen to locate the fault and replace the cable, overnight traffic lights were installed, as it would be impossible to do this during working hours."

Yesterday, BT were still unable to explain the exact cause of the damage but said it was "unlikely" to have been the result of the ongoing digging outside the Shire Hall, as the fault was located just outside Barclays Bank.

He also ruled out a power-surge, adding: "We don't know the exact cause of the fault. Unfortunately, these situations do occasionally occur without warning."

Customers are now able to contact BT to discuss compensation arrangements.

David Cummings, chairman of Monmouth and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said: "Businesses in town suffered from no access to e-mail and were unable to take credit card transactions. In this day and age businesses rely on electronic means to pay for goods and services."

Michelle Tag, at Suits U on Monnow Street, said: "My husband had our line re-directed to a mobile for emergencies, but while it was down we can't take any credit cards at all."

And Theresa Pearce, at David Christopher Jewellers, said last Thursday: "Obviously it's affecting trade. Some people have been good and gone to get cash to pay for things, but others don't have that facility.

"You don't realise how much you use these things until they're gone."

Businesses on both sides of Monnow Street were affected, with some having to re-direct calls to a mobile number.

Suits U, the IT Centre and Ruby Tuesdays all reported crackling lines, while a spokesperson at Woolworths confirmed they were unable to process Lotto ticket transactions, and that credit cards were taking considerably longer than normal.

Brian Williams, who owns a watch repair shop on St Mary's Street, said he had not realised he had a problem until a customer came in and informed him. He said: "I just thought it was a quiet morning, but now I have to go home to call my customers. I later found out that Afinitas upstairs and the bakery next door were also out."

And on Church Street, Helen Price at Bs Hive haberdashery said that although her shop was unaffected, her own home phone line at Wonastow Road was down until Friday.

Maintenance crews were back at work yesterday to complete the reconnection, and hoped all customers will be back on line by today.