A Dunkeswell business owner says he has lost thousands of pounds worth of trade after having no broadband for 16 days.

Alan Moore, of Fly Moore Aircraft Engineering, says he was at ‘the end of his tether’ after struggling to run his business because of a loss of broadband.

His broadband went down on January 25 and was only reconnected last Wednesday.

The company, which repairs and restores aircraft in two hangers at Dunkeswell Airfield, receives its broadband from BT.

A spokesman for BT apologised to Mr Moore for the loss of broadband, citing a software problem in the local exchange as the reason.

Mr Moore, who lives in Dunkeswell, is now demanding compensation from BT for loss of business and extra costs.

He says he lost out on two potential jobs worth thousands of pounds while his broadband was down - because he could not access the company’s online enquiry forms.

Speaking to the Herald at the time the broadband was down, Mr Moore said: “It is just unbelievable.

“I cannot believe that after 13 years of growing a great business with a great reputation, this has happened. We are just struggling to do all of the work.”

Mr Moore was unable to run his business properly as he relied on the broadband to order parts online, check his emails and take card payments among other things.

He also needed to check aviation authority websites to keep up to date with the latest safety instructions.

So desperate was his situation that Mr Moore resorted to borrowing the Wi-Fi from other businesses in the airfield to carry out online tasks.

“They (BT) need to be held to account,” Mr Moore said.

“It’s not right that they can do this and not have to pay any compensation.”

BT spokesman Jason Mann said: “We apologise to Mr Moore for the loss of his broadband, which was caused by a software problem in the local exchange affecting the Dunkeswell area.

“Mr Moore has a Prompt Care agreement, which covers his phone line, but not broadband.

“We have offered him a payment of £89.80 including goodwill worth three months of broadband.”

But Mr Moore said: “I find it [the value of the payment] insulting.

“It is a tiny speck on how much it has cost us in time, money and goodwill to our customers.”