IS Hurworth at the outer reaches of the universe? With the mobile phone signal we have, you would think that we must be.

I used to use Virgin Mobile.

The service was not great but you could live with it.

However, since the merger of Orange and T-mobile (Virgin is piggy-backed on T-mobile) the service has been getting progressively worse.

Currently, we have three mobiles: a Vodaphone which works well at home, but cuts out at Roundhill Road until you reach the football stadium, an Orange handset that works in Roundhill road, but not at home and a Virgin Mobile that’s always cutting out.

All I want to do is have a reasonable signal all the way home from Darlington – that’s not much to ask, is it?

Alison Watson, Hurworth.