A FUMING Bolton scrap yard owner says he has lost out on thousands of pounds of trade — because of a mobile phone network glitch.

Terry Walker says Metro Salvage has missed out on potential jobs because customers using the Three network were not able to call the scrap yard’s main switchboard number.

The firm argues that it may have missed as many as 100 calls every day for the last four to six weeks.

Mr Walker said he was left frustrated many times by Three’s “shocking customer services” with the advisors he spoke to all based abroad.

A spokesman for Three apologised for any inconvenience caused by the problem, which has been recently addressed.

It said the fault arose because landline provider TalkTalk, which works with Three, blocked Metro Salvage’s number on its system when the business opted to leave TalkTalk for BT.

Previously, when Three customers called Metro Salvage’s main 01204 388488 number, they were told that it was not in service.

Mr Walker said: “It was beyond frustrating. Their customer services has been absolutely shocking while I’m losing thousands of pounds, with my company under threat.

"I’ve spent more than 25 years building up Metro Salvage and now some new-fangled fancy phone network caused my firm serious damage because it would not address an issue that was its fault.”

Sales consultant Aaron Kelly said: “Aside from the calls, this has had a knock-on impact as some people think we’ve gone out of business.

“Some of our loyal customers have been standing outside, dialling the right number and not being able to get through.”

The main number worked on all other mobile phone networks and landlines.

Metro Salvage, whose main yard is based in Top Waterloo Street, Bolton, buys scrap vehicles and sells on second-hand cars and parts.