A MADRESFIELD resi - dent is outraged that BT wants to charge him about £900 to move a telephone pole outside his property.

Mark Dewson, of Bricket House, North End Lane, contacted the telecoms giant to ask it to move the pole, which was in front of a disused gate he wanted to reopen.

The pole had been installed in front of the gate before Mr Dewson bought the property about five years ago.

Until he cleared it, the gate had been overgrown.

When Mr Dewson, a builder, decided to reopen the gate as a second access to the property, he got in touch with BT to make arrangements.

“It was about two months ago, and I had to ring them a few times before they sent anyone round,”

he said.

A BT employee eventually called to assess the situation, and Mr Dewson was subsequently sent a letter saying the work would cost about £900.

He said: “That’s absolutely outrageous.

It only has to be moved six feet, so how can they justify charging that much for it? They want something like £168 just for administrative costs.

“The gate has been there since the 1950s and they shouldn’t have put the pole in front of it, even if it was overgrown. It’s an access on to my land and I want to use it.”

BT spokesman Emma Tennant said: “The pole is on public land and has been there for many years, at which time, if the gate was already there, it had already been obscured by the hedge.

“Because the pole was positioned legally, if anyone wishes it to be moved we would have to charge, in this case about £830 plus VAT, to reflect the cost to us of the work to move the pole and the extra cabling work.”