Fire At Bt Exchange Leaves 1000's With No Internet

A fire at a BT exchange in London's West End has left tens of thousands of people without telephone and internet services.

The Gerrard Street-based exchange suffered water damage after a flood at a nearby establishment, this caused the fire in the early hours of yesterday (Tuesday December 21st).

On top of the loss of consumer services, shops in the immediate Soho area had reported that the debit and credit card machines stopped working.

All business owners must carry out a full fire risk assessment to prepare for emergencies such as this fire, to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

In a statement, the telecoms company said: "A number of customers in central London are currently experiencing a loss of service."

"Following clearance from the Fire Brigade, BT's engineers are on site and working around the clock to repair the damage and restore service as quickly as possible."

The company say that "given the complexity of the damage", they could not name a prospective time for the services to be fully operational.

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