A PENSIONER has criticised a phone company, which she says left her without a landline for nearly a month, and meant she was unable to call for help after suffering a fall at home.

Annie Greenwood, of Bracken Road, Dringhouses, York, claims Talk Talk took four weeks to send out an engineer to fix her landline.

The 74-year-old contacted the company numerous times about the problem and says on two occasions she was told an engineer would be sent out to repair the landline, but nobody turned up.

Talk Talk finally sent an engineer to her home on Monday and her landline is now working again.

Ms Greenwood, who suffers from diabetes, heart disease and arthritis, says due to the problem with the landline, the personal alarm she wears around her neck was not working to request help quickly after she fell recently. When she presses a button on the alarm, it calls a company called Be Independent, which would have checked if she was okay.

She said: “I was on the floor for nearly an hour. I couldn’t get any help.

“Eventually I got to the settee and pulled myself up.

“It was really frightening.”

She added: “I had various conversations with Talk Talk. [Before the problem was fixed] They twice told me an engineer would come and they didn’t come.

“There must be many more vulnerable people like this. They must not treat people like this. It’s very dangerous.

“I should have been put on the vulnerable list with all my health issues but I wasn’t on the list.

“It makes me feel very angry that it took them this long to fix the problem.”

Ms Greenwood, who is a dedicated fundraiser for several charities, including Marie Curie and the RSPCA, says she contacted Citizens Advice Bureau and York Outer MP Julian Sturdy about the issue before Talk Talk eventually fixed the problem.

A TalkTalk spokesman said: “We’re very sorry to Ms Greenwood for her loss of phone service. We are in touch with Ms Greenwood and have apologised for the inconvenience caused.”

In 1990, Ms Greenwood nearly died in a road accident which broke every bone in her face. She was a backseat passenger in a car which crashed head-on into a van. A piece of metal spun round and struck her face which had to be rebuilt by two leading surgeons.