After five weeks without a landline, a BT customer in Sandwich has said she is insulted to have been offered a mere £2 in compensation from the firm.

Sandwich town councillor Veronica Liote, of Strand Street, has been living without the use of her telephone since December 18, a total of 36 days. It returned to action on Friday.

When she contacted BT to ask what kind of compensation it would be offering customers, she was disgusted to hear the stingy response.

“They are offering me £16 for the line rental plus £2 compensation,” she said.

“It’s a bit of an insult to offer people that. It beggars belief.”

When the Mercury reported on the BT failings in Sandwich earlier in the month, the firm explained the issues were part of a cable breakdown.

Workers had attended the scene and carried out excavations but it had proved to be a complex repair, requiring 170m of new ducting.

Cllr Liote, who was one of 78 customers who complained, has worked out that she has topped up her pay-as-you-go mobile phone by £60 while her landline was out of order.

She has family in France and Italy and would usually be able to call them on a cheap rate due to a foreign-friendly tariff she had set up with BT. But she had to pay over the odds to call them at Christmas.

Not only is she out of pocket but she was unable to come to the aid of her mother when she was in need.

She said: “I have an elderly mother who lives alone, who’s got a lifeline. On January 19, she had a fall in the night and she was unable to reach me.”

She is now calling for more sufficient compensation from BT.

She said: “I do think we should get some compensation. I would say at least enough to cover our costs as well as something for the inconvenience.”

A spokesman for BT, who confirmed service in Sandwich was fully restored, said: “With regards to compensation, it’s not possible to give a blanket answer.

“With regards to your reader, BT is happy to have a look at the case, if we have the specific details for her and if she is with BT as her provider.”