HUNDREDS of Vodafone broadband customers have woken up this morning to find themselves without internet access, as a significant outage disrupts services.
More than 670 complaints have been logged on the outage checker, Downdetector since 6.30am.
Customers have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to air their frustrations.
One said: “Broadband down since early morning in Peterbrough area, any chance of some communication on the issue please?”
Another said: “What’s going on with broadband?
“I have no Internet and it won’t allow me to check my service online!”
THERE are a few different ways to find out if your telecom provider is experiencing an outage.
Most mobile and broadband providers offer a service checker on their website where you can find out if it’s your area that is facing problems or just an issue with your device.
You can also subscribe to receive alerts, which tell you if there are any problems and how and when they’ll be fixed.
You can also check on any future work they have planned and what it might mean for you.
Plus, you can check websites such as Down Detector, which will tell you whether other people are experiencing problems with a particular company online.
If you’re experiencing problems with your internet, phone, or mobile services, you could be entitled to compensation.
Broadband providers signed up to Ofcom‘s automatic compensation scheme generally offer £8 per day for broadband and home phone services that remain unresolved after the first two full days of disruption.
Additionally, they provide £25 for missed appointments or those cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice, along with £5 for each calendar day of delay in starting a new service.
The compensation process is typically automatic.
Vodafone has a section on its website on how to complain to the network provider if you’re unhappy with your service.
It gives you steps to follow before offering you the alternative of ringing the complaints team on 0333 3040 441.
There’s also a live chat service or a form you can fill in.
If your problem is still unresolved after eight weeks, you can complain to an independent Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.
Vodafone is signed up to the CISAS ADR scheme.
A HOLLYOAKS star has revealed their terrifying hospital dash after waking up in “absolute agony.”
The Channel 4 actor, 41, posted a snap showing him hooked up to a series of tubes as he sought immediate attention.
David Ames played interim headteacher Carter Shepherd in the soap from 2023 to 2024.
He is best-known for his role as Dominic Copeland in medical drama Holby City – so is no stranger to hospital surroundings.
The screen star and voiceover captured a snap of his arm attached to the monitors, posted to Instagram with the words: “waking up in absolute agony with possible kidney stones is not how I planned to start my day.
“But here we are.”
He then made a joke about the water soluble lubricating jelly he was given as part of his treatment.
It isn’t clear how long David, who was at the centre of a gritty conversion therapy storyline during his time on Hollyoaks, spent in the medical ward.
Yet later in the day it appeared his spirits had been lifted, as he thanked his fans for supporting his fundraising efforts for Breast Cancer Now as he prepares to tackle the London Marathon.
In his emotional video, he wrote: “I’m so moved by your messages of support and donations.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
David played Hollyoaks High headteacher Carter, who was also the father of recurring character Freya Calder.
When he joined two years ago, he said: “I am incredibly excited to join the Hollyoaks cast as such an intricately layered character, with a very poignant and vital storyline to come.”
His role then rocketed to the centre of the plotline, and he was the central figure in the disturbing conversion therapy plot.
The teacher, who resented himself for having feelings for men, went on to bully Lucas Hay to reject his sexuality.
He then went on to kidnap John Paul McQueen before almost drowning him, before being arrested.
HOLLYOAKS beauty Chelsee Healey has dropped the biggest hint yet she's been axed from the soap - yet what's happening at the Channel 4 show?
Earlier this year, the Channel 4 soap was forced to address the cull of cast members.
It came after The Sun was first to report Hollyoaks bosses plan to kill off a whopping 20 cast members.
Now Chelsee, who recently took time away from her role as Goldie McQueen to give birth to her second daughter, has now made a cryptic move on X.
The Manchester lass, 36, re-posted a picture of her character crying to her page.
It came after Stephanie Waring, famed for her 28-year-long role as Cindy Cunningham, confirmed that soap bosses had axed her as part of the 20-person strong cast cull.
Another big name set to quit for good is popstar turned soap star Jamelia.
The soap’s resident hunk and TV favourite Owen Warner has also left the show amid the cuts with fans left devastated to say goodbye to his character Romeo Nightingale.
Jamie Lomas has also quit the show and will depart his Warren Fox role soon.
Haiesha Mistry famed for her role as Yasmine Maalik has also left after seven years.
David previously opened up on the “difficult” storyline and said: “There were really heavy moments where I had to be cruel to people; I had to be horrible, I had to say spiteful, vicious things – some of which I’ve had said to me in the past.
“So, to be able to get into that mindset, actually, was quite difficult at times, and was heavy.”
He added to Radio Times: “There was a lot for me to unpick there, with regards to his distaste for the LGBTQ+ community, and how he didn’t align himself with all of that.”
Meanwhile, following his soap exit, The Sun reported how David had been tipped for a spot on Strictly Come Dancing.
An eagle-eyed fan previously said in 2024: “At least three of them have been mentioned as possible contestants fairly often in the past: David Ames from when he was on Holby and Glynis Barber (a long and varied career) and Rita Simmons (EastEnders).”
VOGUE Williams has made a candid confession about her marital struggles.
Irish model Vogue, 39, has been married to former Made in Chelsea star Spencer since 2018, and they share three children together.
Although the family look picture-perfect and like everything in their lives is as smooth as can be, Vogue has now let slip that she has “had enough”.
Her candid confession comes after Spencer revealed that he will not be leaving his fortune to their kids over nepotism fears.
Speaking on the Netmums podcast with Wendy Golledge and Alison Perry, Vogue spoke about the mother load and how she pulls most of the weight at home.
She said on the podcast: “In the nicest way possible, I would say I fix the broken radiator and I do the school run.
“I would say I do 80 percent of what [goes on].
“We’ve actually been having a slight little tiff about that this morning, about the stuff that I do”.
Vogue then laughed and said: “I’ve had enough today.”
The stunning model recently spoke out about parenting on her own podcast, Vogue and Amber.
Speaking about parenting, Vogue revealed that her and Spencer’s son Otto recently woke up incredibly early and left her husband “raging”.
Otto woke up early, went into his mum and dad’s bedroom and then ran into the kitchen.
“Then he ran into the kitchen and Spenny was raging,” she recalled.
“You think I’m obsessed with my sleep, Spenny gets up and was like, ‘I’m already in a sleep deficit, I need to get back to sleep’,” she said.
This comes after Spencer shared his fears over his children being branded as nepo-babies when they grow up, and how he WON’T be leaving his multi-million pound fortune to them.
Keen to avoid his children becoming “trust fund kids”, the 36-year-old has revealed he won’t be leaving his fortune to his offspring.
A ‘nepo baby’ is a colloquial term used to describe individuals who have gained opportunities or success in their careers primarily due to familial connections or the influence of their well-known or wealthy parents, rather than solely through their own talent, skills, or efforts.
The term ‘nepo’ is short for ‘nepotism’, which refers to favouritism granted to relatives or close friends, often in a professional context.
Key Characteristics:
Industries Affected:
Examples:
The concept of nepo babies is often debated, with some arguing that it undermines the notion of meritocracy.
Meanwhile, others believe that it is natural for families to support and help each other succeed.
Speaking to The Mirror about how he doesn’t want his kids to become nepo-babies, he said: “There’s no point in doing well in life and then giving it all to your kids.
“It’s doing them a huge disservice.”
He then spoke about comedian Jimmy Carr‘s outlook and how he agrees with him.
“Jimmy quite eloquently talks about trust fund kids who are given everything, and he sees them as just being really unfortunate, actually, and I would completely agree.”
He added: “If you’re a young man who’s just given everything, or a young woman, who’s just given everything, you may not ever understand the need to work because you have what you think you want.
“And then, therefore, you won’t ever feel proud of yourself.
“You won’t ever have a sense of achievement.”
BENFICA supporters clashed with stewards following their Champions League defeat to Barcelona on Tuesday.
The Portuguese side suffered a 3-1 loss to Hansi Flick‘s team at Estadi Olimpic Lluís Companys.
They subsequently crashed out of the Champions League by losing 4-1 on aggregate.
Supporters were left furious at full-time and clashed with stewards in the stands.
Some fans and stewards appeared to hit each other, with objects also thrown.
Both sets of supporters clashed outside the stadium before the match.
The fixture was deemed high-risk prior to the clash, with Barcelona leading 1-0 on aggregate.
Raphinha broke the deadlock with an 11th-minute strike before Nicolas Otamendi equalised just a few moments later.
Barcelona then sealed the win thanks to additional goals from Lamine Yamal and Raphinha.
After the match, Flick said: “I’m happy, of course. We have respected Benfica, their coach.
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“It was a difficult game for us but we did very well.”
On Yamal, he added: “I’m very happy for him; he hasn’t scored in a while. He was happy too because it was an important goal for us.
“He was great. He’s showing a lot of confidence; the goal came at the perfect time.”
AS a red-faced father pushed me up against the playground wall and screamed in my face, I felt too stunned to fight back.
I’d only reminded his ten-year-old son to return his homework, but now this man was threatening to punch me.
I was a newly-qualified primary school teacher and the incident left me shaken and stunned.
When I’d gone to university to study education, dealing with aggressive and abusive parents hadn’t been part of the course.
I’d chosen this career because I wanted to help children reach their potential and share how amazing acquiring new knowledge can be.
Naively, I’d assumed parents would be supportive of my efforts to give their child the very best start.
Sadly, while the vast majority of mums and dads are lovely, increasing numbers feel emboldened to treat teachers in an abusive way.
That’s why I wasn’t surprised to hear last week that nearly a third of school leaders have reported parents to the police for abusing them in the past 12 months.
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) polled 1,600 members and found that 82 per cent have suffered abuse by parents in the past year, with verbal the most common.
But 68 per cent had experienced threatening behaviour, 46 per cent online abuse and 22 per cent discriminatory language, including racist, sexist or homophobic slurs.
One in ten suffered physical violence, while there were widespread reports of trolling on social media.
Nearly nine in ten said it had increased greatly in the last three years and left many considering quitting.
A decade ago, incidents like the one over homework took place maybe once a month at the school I taught at.
By last summer – when I quit – that had risen to multiple times a day.
There were too many instances to count involving parents shouting and swearing when I tried to speak to them about poor behaviour, friendship issues or general concerns.
The worst occasion was when a parent told me they hoped I’d get cancer and die for asking their child not to chew gum in class.
Shockingly, I have friends who have dealt with worse. One told me a colleague was followed to her car by a dad, who threatened to rape her if she asked his son to complete work again.
And an older male teacher said a parent threatened to spread rumours he was a ‘paedo’ if he made their child join in with PE.
But the abuse I experienced wasn’t just at the hands of hard-nut dads with more testosterone than common sense.
The most threatening parents were the career-driven high earners with a sense of entitlement
The most threatening parents were the career-driven high earners with a sense of entitlement and the attitude that nothing was ever good enough.
The more disadvantaged families were either disengaged or glad someone was trying to help.
Mums would be just as bad as the dads.
Just like social media has led to kids being bullied outside the school gates, I believe the introduction of school messaging apps like Class Dojo has exacerbated abuse.
Parents now have access to you 24 hours a day and get increasingly cheesed off if you don’t respond immediately, even at 2am.
Sometimes they’ll send you a nasty message, then be as nice as pie in the playground – when you are still reeling from seeing their words when you first woke up.
What surprised me most was the attitude that, as a teacher, everything was my fault, from lost coats to spitting at other kids.
When did we stop holding pupils – and by extension, their parents – responsible for their own actions and poor choices?
Lockdown didn’t help matters as the public perception of teachers was low, despite the fact we were putting ourselves at risk by continuing to go into the classroom.
Post-pandemic clampdowns on things like attendance have damaged relations further, even though it is central government pushing targets on schools.
Tension also comes from the fact that teachers are not just teaching anymore.
Other services are so stretched that we become social workers, food banks, family counsellors – jobs we are not qualified to do, but we try to help.
Some parents appreciate this and work with you as a team to benefit the child.
But others – who often have loud voices – feel aggrieved that their child isn’t getting a ‘great deal’ or they don’t like what the school has put in place.
They don’t want to adhere to codes of conduct or uniform policies and think the school isn’t acting in their child’s best interest, when that’s never the case.
I’m quite a strong-minded person, but as time passed it became increasingly difficult to cope with day-to-day
That’s at the heart of all we do.
It’s especially tricky around topics like funding for special educational needs.
While it must be difficult constantly fighting for what your child needs, it shouldn’t be a fight with schools.
A lack of resources is a huge issue – but it’s something the teacher standing in front of you is powerless to change.
Knowing the right way to tackle incidents of abuse and violence is tricky, as parents aren’t a pub customer you can simply bar if they kick off.
Their child still has to come to school and it isn’t their fault if their parent acts badly.
I’ve had varying levels of support from my headteachers in these situations.
Some were completely at the whim of parents and did whatever they asked, because they struggle with confrontation and don’t feel supported by other services if things escalate.
Others had strict codes of conduct and held parents to account, but I remember when one called the police, they were told it was a civil issue and it would take several hours to respond as it wasn’t an emergency.
There was very little in the way of support, so we’d all try to keep our emotions in check until we could have a private breakdown in an empty classroom or in the car driving home.
What these parents didn’t understand was the more time I spent dealing with their aggression, the less time I had for doing what I do best – teaching their children.
On several occasions, I was pulled out of class to speak to an irate parent.
This could be distressing, but I was expected to go straight back to class and my pupils weren’t daft – they could see I was shaken.
I’m quite a strong-minded person, but as time passed it became increasingly difficult to cope with day-to-day.
Not being able to shield lower-paid colleagues like receptionists and teaching assistants was especially challenging.
Some incidents would be in meetings, but others would be in the playground in front of children.
What sort of message does that send to pupils, when parents disrespect teachers so publicly?
The decision to quit the profession I love came after a lot of soul-searching.
I’ve worked in some challenging schools and it was hard walking away from those children, knowing that you are often the one constant in their life.
Some of the things I saw day-to-day were harrowing, but dealing with abusive parents was one of the most challenging elements.
But I’d reached a point where I thought: ‘I’m going to be dead by the time I’m 50. This job is killing me.’
The vast majority of teachers I know feel a similar way. Morale is rock bottom.
No wonder record numbers are quitting, with 39,971 teachers leaving state-funded education in England for reasons other than retirement in 2022/23.
Six months on, I miss teaching so much. Thinking of my pupils makes me tearful, but the situation was no longer sustainable.
I must stress that I’ve also had the pleasure of working with absolutely incredible parents who want to forge a strong relationship and if they do challenge you, it’s appropriate and respectful.
I’d always make time to listen to them.
Like parents, teachers want the best possible outcome for the next generation and will go above and beyond to get that.
There’s never any need to resort to abuse.
By Alex Lloyd
BRITAIN is facing a teaching crisis as record numbers leave the profession and schools struggle to recruit staff, particularly for key subjects.
Almost 80,000 quit for reasons other than retirement in the two years from 2021 to 2023, which is around nine per cent of the workforce.
A Department of Education survey in 2022 discovered that 92 per cent cited workload as a reason to quit while 57 per cent cited pay.
Around half of teachers said that data recording and analysis, behaviour and incident follow up, lesson planning, and marking took up too much of their time.
Many attributed this to schools feeling the need to be ‘Ofsted ready’ in anticipation of an inspection.
Of those leaving, women in their thirties are the biggest group, according to a report called Missing Mothers that said they were struggling to strike a balance between work and family life.
More than 9,000 of them quit in England in 2022-23, compared to just over 3,400 men of a similar age.
However, as men make up less of the profession, this number is a bigger proportion.
A BOY has been stabbed in the back outside a school in Portsmouth – with two teenagers arrested.
The horror incident at 3.46pm yesterday near Springfield School in Drayton saw the victim, aged 15, “seriously assaulted”, according to police.
A force spokesperson said: “(The victim) was treated for two small stab wounds, one to the elbow and one to his back, at hospital where he remains in a stable condition.
“His injuries are not life-threatening or life-changing.
“A 14-year-old boy was initially arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
“A 16-year-old boy has subsequently been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Both remain in custody at this time.”
District Commander, Superintendent Paul Markham said: “You will see officers in the area while we progress our enquiries.
“We’re also engaging with Springfield School, which is close to where the assault took place, to provide reassurance to the school community.
“Anyone with any concerns can speak to one of our uniformed officers from the Neighbourhood Policing Team who will be patrolling regularly.
“It’s important that we also highlight that tackling serious violence including knife crime, robustly dealing with offenders and working in partnership to prevent offending remain a priority in the city.”
Anyone with information on this incident can contact police on 101, quoting the crime reference number 44250106313.
