Town phones for help: Werris Creek left without service again

Ros Marr, who owns the Railway Hotel and the Friendly Grocer, said the phones had been “off and on for two or three weeks”.

“A lot of the time we’ve had no phones at all,” Ms Marr said.

“It really impacts our business. We can’t give out phone credit or use the eftpos, we’ve missed a couple of incoming calls for orders and people haven’t been able to get food at the Railway. 

“We deal with a lot of people in Tamworth, where we provide catering supplies, and they haven’t been able to get on to us.”

The Leader contacted Telstra, who were unable to give specific details on the issue.

Joe Perry said he was worried about the safety of his elderly parents.

“They live by themselves at home. If they have a fall at night, they’ve got no way of ringing anyone,” Mr Perry said.

“It’s not acceptable that they have no way to get in contact with emergency services.

“It’s just a constant thing out here; it’s just on and off. I’m ready to go to the communications ombudsman and make a complaint.”

It’s not the first time this year Werris Creek’s phone lines have been down for an extended period of time.

In May, the town was left without phone service for three weeks due to “intermittent issues” at Telstra’s Mount Terrible site.

“They think that because you’re in the country, you should just accept it as part of country life,” Ms Marr said.

“But it shouldn’t be that way with the technology we’ve got.”

Old Signal Guesthouse Hotel owner Beryl McGrath said she’d had trouble calling anywhere outside of Werris Creek.

“I tried to call a friend at Walhallow, but it kept telling me my phone logs were full, which they weren’t,” Ms McGrath said.

“The furthest I’ve been able to call is Quirindi. I haven’t been able to get through to Tamworth.

“Sometime I think we are the forgotten little town out here.”

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