Demands for compensation after fire leaves 400 Carshalton households without internet and landline for a month

In an open letter, Carshalton Central Liberal Democrat councillors have called for Openreach to provide ‘appropriate compensation’ for the 400 households that lost their internet service for nearly a month.

The disruption followed a van fire on Carshalton Park Road, which melted the internal wiring of a local Openreach cabinet.

Openreach has offered compensation but residents have complained that the amount does not equal the scale of disruption that the outage has caused.

Jake Short, local Liberal Democrat Councillor for Carshalton Central, said:
“Local residents have had to put up with weeks of disruption while Openreach and the service providers get to work fixing the cabinet on Carshalton Park Road. While they aren’t to blame for the cabinet needing repairs, they need to recognise the significant disruption that has taken place. Offers of compensation that I have seen from neighbours have simply not reflected the impact this disruption has caused for their lives.

My Lib Dem colleagues and I intend to express our concerns to Openreach directly in an open letter. I’d encourage anyone impacted to join us by signing the letter so the private companies properly understand the scale of the problem.”

Residents can read the full letter here and are able to add their name by visiting suttonlibdems.org.uk/openreach-compensation-letter