Residents in East Kilbride felt like they were being ‘held hostage’ while their neighbour rowed with Virgin Media.

Customers living on Clamps Wood Street had access to their TV and internet shut down for almost two weeks after a cable suddenly broke on Monday, August 14.

It comes as the exposed wire allegedly ran through a private property on the street, and the homeowner refused to let Virgin in to fix the problem without compensation.

This meant multiple residents struggled to work from home, access online information, or watch beloved programmes.

Glasgow Times: All Virgin customers on the street noticed they lost connection All Virgin customers on the street noticed they lost connection (Image: Colin Mearns)

Jim Wardhaugh, 83, spoke to the Glasgow Times about his frustrations: “I felt like we were all being held hostage over an ongoing dispute between two parties.

“I had no access to television or e-mails. It was very annoying as I am on my own with the dog and I really rely on having that service.

“It is frustrating because I also couldn’t get through to Virgin about the issue, I just get automated emails and texts but no one to speak to.

“I felt completely stuck in the middle and it seemed unfair.”

Ian Anderson, 63, who also lives on the street told the Glasgow Times how the issue has affected him: “Aspects of the work I do really depend on access to the internet, it has been considerably inconvenient not to have that.

“We have used all our data up so would need to go out and pay extra to get more.

“I know it is a first world problem, but people really need access to the internet, it is frustrating.

"The dispute doesn't have anything to do with us, but we are affected."

Glasgow Times: Ian and Jim didn't have internet access due to problems with a Virgin internet cable.Ian and Jim didn't have internet access due to problems with a Virgin internet cable. (Image: Colin Mearns)

The neighbour with the cable wishes to remain anonymous but confirmed to the Glasgow Times that Virgin requires access to his property to fix the damage.

They claimed Virgin had no wayleave in place to enter the property, meaning they have no right of way granted by a landowner.

This is usually in exchange for payment and typically for purposes such as the erection of telegraph wires or laying of pipes.

It is believed the cable was installed by Telewest around 30 years ago, before the homeowner took up the property.

The residents on the street claim they have been trying to contact Virgin since the connection went down, but have had no success outside automated texts and emails.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “We required access to a property in order to repair damaged cable that was impacting a small number of customers’ broadband services on Clamps Wood Street.

"We completed this work as soon as we had access to the site, and affected customers have now had their services restored.

"We apologise for any inconvenience those customers experienced while we worked to agree access to the location.”