AN award winning company has blasted BT’s Openreach over repeated delays to the installation of telephone and internet lines which they say has been a year long nightmare.

In response Openreach denied they have been "dragging their heels" and said the order was very complex, at one stage was cancelled and required traffic management.

The company Green-Tech, is a family run success story, a landscaping and garden supplier with a £12 million turnover employing 60 people. They moved headquarters to a new business park at Rabbit Hill, on the A168, next to the A1 at Arkendale near Knaresborough in October last year, but say they ordered phone and broadband lines in February 2015.

The latest estimate for connections is mid May.

They maintain determination has kept them going, along with four mobile SIM cards and a satellite dish.

Chairman Richard Kay said: "To say Openreach have not been dragging their heels is astonishing. We have been actively pursuing Openreach since August for a completion date and here we are, entering our Spring busy period, with still no finish line on the horizon.

“Very often, significant stages in the installation have been delayed or put back. As a business owner, I find it astounding that a company can operate with so much uncertainty.

"Because in these situations Openreach is effectively a monopoly, I can only assume that they don’t have normal commercial pressures to deliver projects in a timely fashion and to be properly accountable for delays and inefficiencies.”

He said the company did not cancel the order, although it was changed to a higher specification with the service provider TalkTalk. “To put this so-called ‘complicated’ job into context, we are talking about laying 1,800 metres of cable,” he added.

A spokesman for Openreach said: “We are sorry for the length of time taken to fulfil this order but any claims that Openreach are dragging their heels are completely unfounded. An initial order received in February last year was cancelled and since receiving the new order in August engineers have worked hard to complete this very complex job.

“Virtually the entire length of the cable route has required traffic management, with four requests submitted to the local authority to date, all of which have required ten to 21 days statutory notice times.

“A final traffic management request has been submitted and if granted work to install underground tubing along the A168 will begin in May. As soon as this is completed the fibre will be blown through, and the order handed back to the service provider to complete.”