The theft of BT phone cables left 400 people in East Barnet without any telephone service last week.

Underground phone cables were removed at the junction of Church Hill Road and East Barnet Road, between 6pm on Monday, April 16, and 8am the following day.

Households in Milton Avenue and Raydean Road were among those affected.

Engineers began repairs on Tuesday last week, restoring service gradually, yet by Monday this week there were still approximately 175 customers with no service.

Lilian Gelnick, 74, retired, of Raydean Road, Barnet Vale, said: "Apparently all these big cables have a copper core, and that's what they were after. We've had no information at all. It's extremely serious for elderly people who don't have mobile phones.

"BT ought to make those junction boxes more secure. These people just put on fluorescent jackets and put up little tents, and nobody was any the wiser."

A spokesman for BT said: "We have suffered an incident whereby telephone cables have been cut and taken, which cut service to about 400 customers in the area.

"Since that time we have had engineers on site putting in replacement cabling and reconnecting those affected. We would like to assure those still without service we are doing all we can to get this repair work completed as quickly as is possible."

Anyone with any information should contact police on 020 8200 1212.

mcraig@london.newsquest.co.uk