Investigation after communications disruption

An investigation is underway after a problem at Wideford Hill here in Orkney on Saturday, which led to a serious communications blackout in the Northern Isles, including disrupting phones, emergency services, and the cancellation of several flights.

There have also been calls for a back up to be put in place to prevent 999 services disruption in the future.

A spokesman from BT said on the issue: “We experienced problems at Wideford Hill radio station on Orkney at 1pm on Saturday which affected services over several Orkney and Shetland Islands. National Air Traffic circuits and coastguard circuits were also affected, forcing the closure of Sumburgh Airport when their radar systems failed. Emergency services also went down in parts of Orkney and Shetland.”

The statement went on to say: “Engineers traced the fault to blown power rectifiers and fuses at the radio station and restored service around five hours later when all the blown equipment was replaced. Around 390 customers lost broadband while 2640 lost telephony. Areas affected included North Ronaldsay, Sanday, Stronsay, Westray, Papa Westray, Orphir, Balfour, in Orkney plus North Roe and Out Skerries in Shetland. We’d like to apologise for this break in service which is under investigation.”

According to Shetland MSP Tavish Scott, the situation left much of Shetland without communications for five hours on Saturday, and resulted in NHS Shetland having to inform people to attend Gilbert Bain Hospital in person.

Shetland Coastguard was left without contact to the mainland, with the situation also resulting in the closure of Sumburgh Airport leading to the cancellation of 11 flights.

Mr Scott has now called for back up to prevent 999 services disruption in the future.