LAKE District business owners have been left counting the cost of a 'catastrophic' phone line failure which has left them thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Hotels, a pub and a caravan park on the eastern shores of Windermere have all reported 'massive' disruption to business and a vast loss in revenue due to the cable fault which is still being investigated by BT.

Businesses contacted by the Gazette claim they have lost what could run into tens of thousands of pounds - with some forced to turn customers without cash away as they are unable to process card bookings. And the Gazette attempted to contact other businesses and were answered by a voicemail message which said that the number was temporarily out of order.

According to BT, the failure of phone lines and internet connection were said to be down to a 'break in a big cable' which caused problems to start earlier this month and which were still unresolved yesterday (Wednesday). BT said it was still trying to establish the cause of the break.

The general manager of the Holbeck Ghyll, Windermere, Andrew McPherson, said the hotel had experienced an unprecedented loss of around £6,000 since its phone lines cut out on November 4.

"We managed to rig up one line into our building - going in and out - which has meant that is the same one used by all guests, all kitchen call outs and the main reception line.

"We've had to ask staff to use their own mobiles and we call customers back on the mobile - it's absolutely ridiculous."

The 30-room hotel has experienced a drop of around eight last minute room bookings per week at a cost of £369 a night, while lunch covers have fallen from around 90 to 40.

And with its credit card machine out of action, staff at the hotel have resorted to taking personal details and processing them later via the one working line.

At the Langdale Chase, near Ambleside, the restaurant's record of a full Saturday night was broken for the first time after phone lines went down on Friday November 7.

"The disruption has been massive and they don't seem to be taking it seriously - it's a lifeline for our business," said general manager Andrew Tighe. "We could have lost wedding inquiries and last minute bookings where people will have gone elsewhere but we just don't know."

Mr Tighe added customers had been left dissatisfied and complained after finding that they could not pay using the card machines and estimated that £2,000 had been lost.

Also affected since November 7 has been the Low Wood, the Briery Wood Hotel and Limefitt Holiday Park - a caravan park at Troutbeck working on a system with virtual desktops.

And the disruption has also been felt at The Mortal Man, Troutbeck, where the phone lines went down on Thursday November 6.

MORE TOP STORIES: Owner Garry Duncker believes his business has also lost a 'couple of thousand pounds' in the off line period which came to an end on Thursday (November 13) and is reported to have affected other homes in the village.

"They (BT) left businesses stranded with no information," he said. "We couldn't take table bookings, hotel bookings and couldn't take card payments so we lost money like that.

"We were turning people away with no cash on them - it was just embarrassing and we weren't as busy as we should have been."

A number of the businesses said they would be putting in a compensation claim to BT for the inconvenience and loss in business - a decision which has been backed by Jonathan Denby, president of the Lakes Hospitality Association.

"It is shocking beyond belief," he said. "The Newby Bridge Hotel suffered a catastrophic loss of all BT lines last month and will have lost thousands.

"In this area BT have been incompetent and it's incumbent upon us all to put our heads together and make a joint claim and appoint a legal solicitor."

Holbeck Lane is expected to close today (Thursday) and there will be temporary traffic lights in place on the A591 while repair works to the cable take place.

A BT spokesman, speaking on behalf of Openreach, said: “A big cable is broken and we may have to replace up to 250 metres.

"Water has run down the cable on both sides of the break and finding the best place to begin the repair has been difficult.

"We have had to set up roadworks in a number of different places to track down the faults which is why people have had to wait for their service to be fixed.

"It is regrettable when this type of repair is necessary and we would like to thank all those people affected for their patience.”

BT sent in a team of specialist jointing engineers to tackle the repair yesterday (Wednesday) but it could take a few days before it is complete.