Want A Landline? Not In Hackney!

Hackney as a borough has a remarkable way of impoverishing its citizens.

I have commented before on my difficulties in getting anything delivered to my flat, due in large part to a security system that allows every single smackhead in Hackney access to the block, but acts as a sort of force field keeping back many delivery drivers. Worse still are those who like to tease you with the offer of a service they have no intention of delivering - Pizza Hut's Mare Street take away for example, will leaflet my estate, but will not deliver to it. What is the point of that?

As anyone who has tried to ring my home number in the past few weeks may know, my phone is again out of order. After a week, a Virgin engineer appeared, and quickly announced he would need access to Virgin's equipment on the roof. You would have thought Hackney Council and Virgin would have agreed clear working processes to ensure any mechanical faults could be quickly repaired, and tenants would get the service they are paying for. Not so. Two working days notice is required before Hackney will provide Virgin with a key to the roof (that's two days you are paying for a service you cannot use, on top of the week before the engineer can come round)

This time a new twist was added. Virgin informed me I had to request the key from the Council, and they would then pick it up from Hackney on the day of the repair. When I visited by Neighbourhood Office, I was simply told there was no access allowed to the roof of the building, for anyone, due to "problems caused by pirate radio stations operating from roofs".

I have been left with no option but to cancel my phone service, and will have to see if I can find a replacement where the company is not dependent on equipment held on the top of the block. If I can't, for the first time in my life I will live in a house with no phone line. Only in Hackney could this happen.......