BOSSES at BT have apologised to Didcot’s Citizens Advice Bureau after the charity was left without phone lines for its new office.

A dispute with BT means they will not have phones fitted at their new High Street home until at least the end of the month.

The firm has now apologised and waived all charges for CAB, which takes thousands of calls a month.

It is the latest blow for the charity after it was forced to move out of the Civic Hall in Britwell Road by Didcot Town Council.

The council said it did not have space for the charity under a £1.3m revamp of the Civic Hall, CAB’s home for 15 years.

Staff move into their new home on Monday , but will be without phones. Calls will be diverted to its Wallingford office instead.

Manager Judith Abela explained: “We wanted to switch to another phone company but BT told us they would charge us £16,000 to switch.

“The discussions took too long and now we have missed our time slot so we definitely won’t have any phones by the end of the month.

“We will use mobile phones when we can and deal with people when they call in but we will have to restrict the service to a certain extent.

“Having to move to a new office and then having a problem with the phone system is a real double whammy for us. There will be disruption to our service over the next few weeks but our focus remains on providing the best service we can in the circumstances.”

And she said: “We have been working in Didcot for 42 years but we are now experiencing our highest ever level of demand because everyone is affected in some way by the recession.”

Emma Littlejohn, spokesman for BT, said: “BT apologises to the Citizens Advice Bureau in Didcot for the confusion, they are able to move to their new provider with no charges payable to BT.

“We are sorry to lose them as a customer and for any disruption this error may have caused.”

The charity is trying to raise £60,000 to refurbish the office and warns coalition cash cuts will hit services.

The CAB’s office in Britwell Road is closed today and tomorrow.