Business owners and residents across parts of Croydon and Sutton, are still without broadband and phone services after criminals cut four BT phone lines.

The communications giant is yet to have replaced the underground cables, which were damaged by vandals on Wednesday, September 24.

A BT spokesperson has confirmed services are still down in parts of Croydon, but is unable to point out the exact locations. 

They also confirmed households and businesses in Beddington are affected.

The company manager of a Croydon-based coach hire firm claims they have lost a fortune, after having to operate with no phone line for the last five days.

James Nolan, who works for Mayday Travel, said: "Our business phones have been down since Wednesday.

"They (BT) have a fix date of Monday, October 6.

"Absolutely disgraceful.

"In this day and age there should be some sort of back-up in place.

"We have lost thousands."

BT reported that the cables were cut at 5pm, but one cafe manager claims her lines went dead at 3.15pm.

Treena Acun, who works at Mum's Cafe in Beddington, Sutton, said: "We have had to divert our landlines to mobiles to avoid losing customers.

"I hope they catch them."

Some of our readers took to Twitter to vent their despair at losing their broadband and phone services.

A user who goes by the name Jimbo, tweeted: "No dial tone, neighbour also no phone. Both in Beddington, ETA for a fix is Oct 5th."

Crimestoppers is offering a £1,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to a conviction.

A BT spokesperson said: "Openreach engineers are working around the clock and as fast as they can to replace the underground cables, which are each around 140m in length.

"The repair work is complex and time-consuming, and engineers are working to restore service as soon as possible."

The company is still unable to confirm a precise date for when they expect the repair work to be completed.

You can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or the Met police on 101.

Have you been affected? Call the news desk on 020 8722 6358 or email tom.gillespie@london.newsquest.co.uk