Householders were cut off for more than a week after phone lines went dead during work to lay a water main.

Artist David Humphreys, who works from home and relies on the phone to speak to clients, said he could not be contacted for more than nine days.

Other homes in Sopers Road, Bramber, near Steyning, were also affected.

Earlier this month, contractors from Southern Water were working on the road to lay a new main. While they were on site, several properties lost the use of their phone lines although BT was unsure if the events were related.

Mr Humphreys, 59, said: "I paint pictures for a living and I need to make contact with clients. At the moment it's a particularly busy time. I am trying to get business and people are trying to get through to me.

"If they can't get through they tend to blame the person at the other end for not answering, not the service provider.

"When I called BT I asked if there was an inspector I could talk to and the person in the call centre said they would get someone to call me. I just laughed because if they could call me I wouldn't have had any problem.

"At least three homes were affected. I think customers have been ignored and treated very badly."

BT spokesman Paul Dorrell apologised for the delay in restoring phone lines but said contractors were due on site on Saturday to fix the fault.

He said: "An underground cable has been damaged. We cannot be sure if it is anything to do with the water main or not.

"We had one or two problems delaying our activity on the job, not least because it is an unadopted road and we have had to get permissions to dig."

Mr Dorrell said BT received reports of three faults along the street but there could have been others which people did not report because they knew their neighbours had done so.

Southern Water spokesman Neil Duncanson said: "We are replacing some mains in the Steyning area as part of ongoing work.

"I am aware that a BT line has been damaged and BT are in the process of arranging a repair but that is something that they will do."

He said water was restored to all properties by Wednesday.