MOBILE phone giant Vodafone has come under fire after customers in Earby were left without a signal for 20 days.

A technical fault on the company's mast above Thornton-in-Craven has left Vodafone customers without any reception since December 15.

Vodafone said the problem was due to be fixed today and a spokesman for the company apologised for the delay.

Hundreds of people subscribe to Vodafone in Earby.

One of them, Lee Anderson, 29, of James Street, said: "It's been a real pain, especially over Christmas, because I just haven't been able to use my phone at all and nobody has been able to contact me on it either.

"When the signal first went off I thought it would just be something temporary and it would only be a couple of days but it's gone on for far too long. "I think Vodafone have given us all a pretty pathetic service. It's such a big company that you would think they could do a lot better."

Earby Parish Council chairman Chris Tennant said: "A lot of people had bought phones for Christmas and taken them back to the shop because they weren't working, only to be told it was a problem with the network."

A spokesman for Vodafone apologised for the disruption caused, but said he did not know exactly why repairs had taken so long. He said the delay had probably been because of bad weather or difficulties in getting the right parts to repair the mast.