Pensioner unable to call ambulance because BT cut landline

A pensioner who suffered a stroke was unable to call an ambulance because BT cut his landline.Graham Chapman, 75, from Horsehay in Shropshire, fell ill earlier this month. When his wife Jan went to call for help, she realised the phone was “completely dead”, the BBC reported.The couple’s landline had been cut during the telecoms giant’s rollout of “Digital Voice”, a system that will scrap traditional copper landlines and make all phone lines digital.When the plans were announced, they provoked concern that the elderly might be left isolated from emergency services, leading BT and Virgin Media O2 to pause deployment in 2023.An overhaul of the landline system was planned to be completed by the end of 2025, but the deadline has been pushed back to 2027.Engineers working on Mr Chapman’s home had been unable to carry out the landline work on Jan 12 because they “hadn’t got enough cable”, but assured the pair “everything was working” fine when they left.Later that week, Mr Chapman suffered a stroke. Mrs Chapman recalled going straight to the landline to ring 999.“I felt really stressed out”, Mrs Chapman said, describing how she “lifted the phone and it was completely dead. I thought at the time, and I still do, that it’s the worst thing that’s happened to me.”Fortunately, Mr Chapman was able to receive hospital care after a mobile phone call. He spent a week at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital and is now recovering at home.Ofcom has said it could investigate and fine BT if bungled landline cut-offs put customers at risk, after fining Virgin Media £23.8m in 2025 for its handling of the switch-over, saying it had put vulnerable customers at “direct risk of harm”.The company admitted disconnecting customers who relied on life-saving “telecare” panic buttons to call for medical help.Recovering from his medical emergency, Mr Chapman called the incident “absolutely scandalous” and said he could “foresee deaths occurring because of it”.He claimed he had spent more than two weeks trying to have the landline fixed – a process he described as “absolutely terrible, frustrating” and as having affected his recovery.The Telegraph previously revealed that the switch-over had left a number of vulnerable customers without access to a phone line over Christmas.Anna Sabine, a Lib Dem MP and member of the Digital Communities all-party parliamentary group, previously told The Telegraph: “We warned that the safety net wasn’t there, and it is unacceptable that retirees and families in remote areas have paid the price for this botched rollout during the most isolating time of the year.”A report published by the group in March 2025 warned that the switch-over could have “deeply personal repercussions” for vulnerable older and disabled people.Chris Bryant, the telecoms minister, said in 2024: “This has kept me up at night and [is] a priority that I have put at the forefront of my work since stepping into office.“I am pleased telecoms companies, central government, and local authorities are working in lockstep to achieve customer safety.”A BT spokesman said the firm had been raising awareness of the switch-over for the past two years and that it had reviewed cases reported by The Telegraph earlier this month of vulnerable customers being cut off.BT has been approached for further comment.