A despairing daughter has hit out at a phone company for leaving her poorly mum without a "lifeline" for three weeks.

Anne Ballard's mum, who does not wish to be named, lost her phone connection when a car hit a telegraph pole near to where she lives in Witham Road, Wickham Bishops, on June 29.

Mrs Ballard's mum, who is 79 and lives alone, relies on a heart monitor connected to the phone that teams at Broomfield Hospital can read remotely.

Teams from BT Openreach finally started work on the pole on July 21 to re-connect the lines that Mrs Ballard believes affected six other homes in the area.

For the full story, see this week's Braintree and Witham Times.