Phone lines down across north London until Friday

A FIRE and a flood at a telephone exchange in Lisson Green have knocked out phone lines across Swiss Cottage, St John s Wood and Marylebone. Latest reports say repairs won t be complete until tomorrow. Around ten fire fighters were called to the disaster

A FIRE and a flood at a telephone exchange in Lisson Green have knocked out phone lines across Swiss Cottage, St John's Wood and Marylebone.

Latest reports say repairs won't be complete until tomorrow.

Around ten fire fighters were called to the disaster which affected an electrical intake room at a British Telecom building on Bell Street.

Fire crews were called to the exchange at 7.30am and took more than two hours to make the area safe.

But the incident has badly affected communications across large areas of north-west London with some services expected to be disrupted for the next 24 hours.

A spokeswoman for London Fire Brigade said: "Two fire engines and around ten firefighters attended a flooding incident in an electrical intake room within the basement area of a building on Burne Street in Marylebone, earlier today.

"The Brigade was called at 7.33am and the incident was over by 9.49am Crews from Paddington station were at the scene."

A spokesman for BT said: "Following a fire at a BT exchange in the Paddington area, customers in parts of north and west London may be experiencing a loss of broadband and telephone service. Customers in other parts of the country may also be affected.