A Highland Perthshire farmer claims he was forced to make a 20-mile detour to tend to animals after BT Openreach closed a key rural road.
Evelyn Brown said her son Ronald was forced to travel through deep snow after the B8019, which runs along the north of Loch Tummel, was closed to replace an underground junction box.
The family have sheep, cattle and horses on their land at Kynachan Farm.
Mrs Brown, who lives in Tummel Bridge, said more needs to be done to ensure farmers are given vital access to their livestock, especially as Sunday’s closure happened in the middle of calving season.
“We have cows calving at the moment and we’d had to bring one into the house,” she said.
“It sadly didn’t survive but we wouldn’t have been able to reunite it with its mother if it had. Its mother is still out there and we don’t know if she is dead or alive.
“My son was out there first thing this morning and was able to get through as it wasn’t closed yet but after he had finished feeding the cattle and the horses he found he was stuck and had to make a 20-mile trip to get back here and that was in six inches of snow.
“BT should have some common sense and see that we need access. It may be a Sunday but farming is a seven-day-a-week job.
“You can’t leave animals without tending to them and there’s still cows calving – it’s important we are able to get to them, especially with the bad weather that we’ve had.”
Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart said the incident showed a lack of understanding of agricultural life.
He said: “I will be writing to BT to ask them to advise their contractors to have a bit more compassion when it comes to incidents like this in our rural areas.
“To ask a farmer to make a 20-mile round trip in the snow in an emergency situation shows a bit of a lack of understanding of rural issues and I hope that those responsible will reflect on that.”
An Openreach spokeswoman said they had attempted to keep the road open using traffic lights but the route proved too narrow.
She said: “They had previously tried to complete the work using two-way traffic lights, but the road proved too narrow for this.
“With agreement from the local council, they returned on Sunday when the road was closed to allow the work to go ahead safely.
“While the work was ongoing, the contractors were approached by an individual who asked what they were doing and how long the roadworks would be in place.
“Livestock was mentioned, but our contractors were not aware of the urgency of the request and explained they were on track to compete the work that afternoon.
“They have advised that the individual did not press the matter or ask to get through the closure but simply returned to their vehicle. We’ve also been advised that the location of the works meant the road would not have been passable at that time.”
