A BRECON couple are worried a leaning telegraph pole that’s dangling wires over their garden could jeopardise their son’s wedding celebrations.

Pippa Price and her husband Jonathan say they first noticed the wires were very low after the winter’s first serious snow in December.

They say the weight of the snow on several telegraph wires that run from the telegraph pole in The Postern at the back of their home may have caused the pole to lean over even further.

Pippa’s son Freddie is hoping to have his wedding reception in his parents’ garden after his wedding to his fiancee Amanda in two weeks’ time. But the telegraph wires are now hanging so low, the Prices believe they could be a serious impediment to the celebrations.

Mrs Price, who runs her Hatbatty hat hire business from the family property in Priory Hill, says she and her husband have complained to Openreach, the firm that looks after phone company BT’s infrastructure, on numerous occasions.

After one of the first calls she said an engineer came out to look at the pole and agreed it shouldn’t be leaning over as far as it was and that the telegraph wires over her garden were very low.

“My worry is that the wire is so low it could be a danger to our wedding guests when we host our son’s wedding,” Mrs Price said. “On April 7 we are going to have about 80 to 100 guests and a marquee in the back garden and these low-hanging telegraph wires could jeopardise their safety. My son Freddie is quite tall and when he stands next to the lowest wire it brushes the top of his hair. It’s so low we could almost play volleyabll or badminton over it at the wedding. It’s ridiculous, and the telegraph pole outside on the street is like the leaning tower of The Postern!”

Despite making light of the situation, Mrs Price said she is “very concerned” that the low telegraph wires could endanger the safety of her wedding guests and the pole, if it fell over, might damage her grade-II listed wall.

She added: “I was told by the Openreach engineer who came out to look at it before Christmas that someone would be sent to fix it but so far, despite many phone calls and emails since, no one has been. I realise they’ve probably been very busy with all the terrible weather we’ve had but I still feel the wire hanging as low as it is is dangerous. I can easily reach up and touch it – fortunately there’s only a very small voltage running through it!”

Pippa’s husband, who also runs a business – Jonathan Price Property Services – from their home, said the only thing holding up the telegraph pole is a nearby lamp standard.

He said: “There are several wires running from the pole to other houses nearby. The combined weight of four or five inches of snow on the wires has probably contributed to the telegraph pole leaning over. But now it’s positively dangerous.”

Mr Price said he is so frustrated with the situation he has fired off a letter to Brecon and Radnorshire MP Chris Davies, although it is “probably too soon” to have had a reply.

A spokesperson for Openreach said: “Unfortunately due its poor condition we need to replace a pole that supports the overhead telegraph wire that runs across Mr and Mrs Price’s garden. We’re sorry that this work is taking longer than usual to complete.

“We’re aware of the urgency to remove the draping telegraph wires and our engineers have escalated this work as a matter of priority.”