How a town’s internet outage could be down to a tiny creature linked to famous family
A town has been left without the internet for days – and it could be down to a tiny creature linked to the Rothschild family.
Homeowners in Tring, Hertfordshire, were devastated after a nesting edible dormouse (known as a glis glis) bit through BT Openreach wires just outside.
Experts have said the whiskered wrecker, which was introduced by the family in 1902, is known to cause havoc.
But the latest damage they have caused led to around 10,000 homes losing their internet for three days.
Power was eventually restored today after a lack of web access caused shops to close and created a ‘nightmare’ for anyone working from home.
Residents started to complain on Saturday that their internet was down at around 3pm.
BT said engineers managed to restore the connection to the majority of homes at around 2am this morning.
The internet giants said it was an ‘extremely rare’ incident after the single mouse managed to chew through ducting, outer casing, and multiple cables.
Ben Lace, 29, who owns Metcalfes Home Hardware in Tring said the lack of internet had made his life ‘hell’.
He said: ‘It’s been a tough few days and has caused us a real headache. It’s been hell to be honest, with customers coming and going and leaving, we must have lost hundreds of pounds worth of trade.
‘We had to go to cash only and we were turning away customers, but so many people were using cash the cash machines in the village ran out.
‘BT have been a shambles and should have sorted it sooner. What are we paying them for?’
Shamsun Nahar, 28 owner of Culture Bakery in the town centre said she had to give customers bread and pastries for free because the shop couldn’t open due to a lack of internet.
She said: ‘We had loaves and pastries that we couldn’t sell because the internet went down and nobody had cash, we couldn’t have it going to waste.
‘It was a real pain and we’ve lost business and I felt bad telling customers we couldn’t help them.’
Jordan Grace, 30, owner of the oldest shop in Tring, G Grace and Son, said he knew the rodent was behind the chaos.
He said: ‘It was a nightmare, it was like going back in time without the internet, we didn’t really know what to do.’
He added: ‘They’ve been causing problems for years around here and now they’ve gone and broke the internet.’
Software engineer, Charlie Randall, 30, had been working at home when the internet went down on Sunday.
He told Metro: ‘It ruined my work, I lost everything I had been doing the whole day.
‘I’ve had to struggle on and use the 4G on my phone but even that has been useless.’
Andy Sawyer, 62, who run’s Pam’s café, said he couldn’t take any orders on Sunday or Monday due to the lack of web access.
He couldn’t believe the strength of the pesky rodent and said ‘it must have had teeth stronger than Jaws in James Bond, how on earth has it managed to get through those cables I will never know.’
The glis glis were introduced by amateur naturalist Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, at his estate near Tring over 100 years ago.
Mr Rothschild was also famous locally for driving around Hertfordshire in a carriage driven by a team of zebras and riding around on the back of a giant tortoise.
From the six original escapees, it is now estimated around 30,000 inhabit an area that covers Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Essex.
Pest control expert, Jon Jeffrey, who has worked in the industry for 17 years told Metro: ‘From what I can see it looks like a dormouse, and as you can see on the far right it has a fluffy tail which is the biggest giveaway.
‘I’ve had to deal with hundreds of them over the years around Tring and they are big issue.
‘They can chew through anything if they have long enough, so it isn’t a shock that they have got through those cables if they were nesting there.’
Tony Bustamente, 79, who was left without internet said the Rothschilds ‘have a lot to answer for’.
He said: ‘How have they not had any measures in place to deal with these in the past, they might not be here anymore but it is all down to them for bringing the mice here in the first place.’
An Openreach spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm a broadband outage in Tring is the result of damage by rodents.
‘Our engineers discovered nesting rats had managed to chew through ducting, outer casing and multiple cables – equipment that would typically need a drill to penetrate.
‘The repair effort has also been hampered a little because access to our underground chambers had been covered over within a private property.
‘Engineers have now gained access to the ducts and are in the process of repairing and replacing the damaged cables before re-sealing it to prevent further damage.
‘We aim to have the majority of customers back online by late tomorrow.
‘Thankfully, this kind of incident is extremely rare, but we apologise to anyone who’s been affected.’
The Rothschild Family have been contacted for comment.
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