Residents of a road in East Ewell have expressed their anger after an alleged drink driver crashed into a telegraph pole leading to weeks without internet or telephone communications.

Families living on the road were left without landlines and internet for as long as three weeks after the incident and told of their frustration at being so negatively impacted by the actions of the person responsible.

The man thought to be responsible crashed his vehicle into a telegraph pole on the residential street in the early hours of Saturday, February 1.

Surrey Comet: Image via Ewell East residents' group Image via Ewell East residents' group

Responding to a request from the Comet, a spokesperson for Surrey Police said that a 26-year-old from Epsom had been arrested in connection to the crash:

"We were called to Seymour Avenue in Epsom at around 1:30am on Saturday, February 1 following reports of a single vehicle collision with a telegraph pole.

"The driver, a 26 year old man from Epsom was uninjured and arrested for driving whilst under the influence of alcohol. He remains under investigation."

A group of residents in the area came together after the incident and have been supporting each other in the communications outage that followed.

Surrey Comet: Image via Ewell East residents' groupImage via Ewell East residents' group

A spokesperson for the group spoke with the Comet about their experiences since the crash:

"In this day and age for the length of time we have had it is just a nightmare.

"We haven't had an apology and in such a respectful, friendly area you would not expect that," the spokesperson said.

They added that the implications of the crash were concerning because of its potential to have been even worse.

"We've all been quite badly shaken by it. What goes through your mind is what could have happened.

"We've got a lad who was driving at speed through such a residential area over the limit. It's very concerning.

"The telegraph pole was very near my house and it ripped out lines for about eight or nine houses where it came down," they said.

Meanwhile, it took weeks for the service providers of the various houses to manage to restore internet to some of the houses impacted by the crash.

The experience has been chastening but also sparked solidarity between neighbours on the road in question.

"It's the impact that someone else's criminal damage has had on us as residents," the residents' group spokesperson pointed out.

"We've set up a WhatsApp group and it has brought us together. I'm trying to be proactive," they said.