A pub has lost out on thousands of pounds due to persistent phone problems.

Phone lines at the Shipwright’s Arms in Hollowshore were plagued with faults on four different occasions throughout December, meaning its card machines did not work and bookings could not be taken.

Owner Derek Cole estimates that he missed out on seven days’ worth of business and cash losses in the region of £1,500-£2,000.

“If you have a group of six people coming in for a meal, that’s £120 gone with just one group,” he said.

“A small business can’t afford to lose its card machine during its busiest time of year. We are a remote pub and 60-70% of our business is on card machine.

“We are too far away for people to go to a cash machine so we just had to tell customers when they came in that the machine wasn’t working and if they didn’t have cash they would have to leave.”

Despite notifying BT of the faults straight away, the problems persisted for several days.

He said: “It was a bit chaotic really. We got a message saying the fault had now been fixed, when it was fixed three days ago.

“Then you get an operator who says they are personally handling your case and you don’t hear from them.”

“At the moment the phone is working but watch this space. We pick the phone up in the morning and see if it is working.”

Mr Cole also racked up extra costs due to having to divert the pub’s phoneline to his mobile – and is now looking at switching to a satellite system to avoid similar issues in future.

“It’s a huge amount of money we pay for a business line, for faults to be fixed within two working days. I have told them I am not going to pay the bill,” he said.

BT spokesman Ian Read said: “A technical fault affected service in the Hollowshore area, also affecting service at the Shipwright Arms public house.

“A temporary service has been provided at the pub, while engineers complete the second stage of work on overhead cabling.”

The company has offered Mr Cole a refund of £162.87.