BT workers were caught mocking a report into the company's poor broadband services when they failed to put the telephone down after calling up the report's authors.

Conservative Grant Shapps posted a recording online of the answer machine message that he claims reveals the "contempt" the company shows for its customers.

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Helen Goodman

The former Tory chairman said members of the press office rang his office on Friday for a copy of a report by MPs, which found millions of broadband customers and businesses suffer "dire" connection speeds despite BT receiving £1.7bn in taxpayers' money to improve services.

In the recording the two men can be heard ridiculing the cross-party report backed by 121 MPs, including Bishop Auckland Labour MP Helen Goodman.

The worker who makes the call is heard telling a colleague about the report.

"It's called Broadbad," he says.

The colleague replies: "Broadbad? Oh, that's clever. That's hilarious."

After discussing how the "n" of broadband has been crossed out, the first man says sarcastically: "Ooo, look at that."

Mr Shapps said the two men appeared "simply not to care" about the issues highlighted in the report about the poor services customers are enduring.

He told the BBC: "There is a recording of the BT press office who accidentally didn't put down the phone after they called my office yesterday where they are pretty contemptuous and dismissive of the entire issue."

He added: "They appeared simply not to care about it."

The report by the British Infrastructure Group (BIG), which was set up by Mr Shapps, called for the telecoms giant to be split from its Openreach subsidiary to end its "natural monopoly" over the nation's broadband infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of BT has admitted there is "more to do" in the roll out of Openreach's broadband service.

Appearing on Saturday's Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Gavin Patterson responded to a report by MPs that states millions of broadband customers and businesses suffer "dire" connection speeds despite BT receiving £1.7bn in taxpayers' money to improve services.

They are calling for the telecoms giant to be split from its Openreach subsidiary to end its "natural monopoly" over the nation's broadband infrastructure, amid claims 5.7 million customers, especially in rural locations, have internet speeds so low they break regulations.

The chief executive said: "Over 90 per cent of the UK can get super fast broadband today - which means that ten per cent today cannot. Within the next 18 months that will only be five per cent and we are working with the Government to find ways to address the last five per cent."

He admitted in rural areas "there is more to do, there is no question about that".

"But even Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Ofcom have pointed out that we will get to 95 per cent of the UK by the end of next year," he said.