Neighbours' fury as BT chairman is only person in village to get high-speed broadband



Reaping the benefits: BT Chairman Sir Michael Rake

BT has sparked anger after it was revealed the company's chairman has been provided with highspeed broadband at his rural home - even though the rest of the Oxfordshire village where he lives does not have access.



Sir Michael Rake bought a home in the Oxfordshire village of Hambleden, near Henley-on-Thames, a year ago.



One of his neighbours has been trying to get broadband installed for five years, even though Hambleden has been classified as a 'not spot' where the service is not available.



Gary Ashworth, head of Abacus Recruitment, was furious when he discovered Sir Michael had broadband installed at his home as part of a 'small trial'.



The chairman of BT is given preferential treatment over long-serving customers.



'I run a business and we probably have 1,000 BT lines. Clearly there is preferential treatment if you happen to be the chairman. I think it is a disgrace.'



Mr Ashworth, 49, told how he received email from BT's executive complaints desk after he wrote to the telecoms giant.



It said that Sir Michael was one of a small number of people involved in a trial to test out the commercial feasibility of new technology.



The email, from Shirley Mackie, said: ''I understand the frustrations regarding broadband for the people in Hambleden.



'At the moment we are trialling broadband enabling technology (BET) at 10 locations in the UK. We can confirm Sir Michael Rake is trialling BET at his home. The pilot is very small and involves a handful of users at this stage.'



When Mr Ashworth asked if he could participate in the trail, BT said no one else could be added until 2010.



He said: 'Sir Michael Rake is the only person allowed to participate in the trial in our area. He moved into the village a year ago and surprise, surprise, he has got broadband.'



He was told it would cost £68,000 to run broadband especially to his house.



The Parish Church of St Peter in Hambleden: The village has been classified as an internet 'not spot' even though it is just 35 miles from London

A BT spokesman said: 'Trials of new technologies are often conducted among a company's own staff so there is nothing unusual in this situation,' the spokesman said.



'BT has learnt a lot through the trial the chairman participated in and hopefully those lessons will benefit the residents of Hambleden in due course.'



There was no way of provding the service to Hambleden that was commercially viable, the spokesman added.



Paul Goodman, Tory MP for Wycombe, said: 'The lack of broadband in the Hambleden Valley is a very serious problem for my constituents.



'Unless all BT staff members are entitled to participate in the trial on exactly the same terms, I think some of my constituents will find this very strange.'



The Government has promised to upgrade everyone to braodband by 2012. A 'broadband tax' of 50p a month on phone bills would be used to pay for the upgrade.