Campaigners are threatening legal action against a major television and internet supplier after being left for months without a service.

Communications executive Michael Taggart is leading a group of computer-users who are warning Sky it must correct a fault in their broadband packages or face them in court.

Mr Taggart, 31, of Farm Road, Hove, believes he is one of "dozens, if not hundreds" of people in Sussex left waiting to have their broadband lines activated.

He said many people run businesses from home and have suffered crippling costs because of the error.

Mr Taggart said: "I'm at the end of my tether and I want to warn people not to sign up to Sky.

"I have the option of working from home in my job but I'm having to travel 20 miles to work and back every day because I can't do that without my connection.

"Even worse, I'm losing touch with my family.

They live all over the country and because I find it hard to get away from home, I bought a webcam so I could still have face-to-face contact - but that's useless without the broadband."

Fobbed off Mr Taggart said the problem became apparent when the activation date he was given by Sky came and went on October 25.

He said: "I phoned the customer services department about 20 times over the next two months and they kept fobbing me off with new activation dates, which all passed without a word from Sky.

"They ignored two letters and the only explanation over the phone was that there was a problem with the telephone exchange.

"By late December, I decided they were never going to sort the problem so I went online in an internet cafe to see if other people had had similarly bad experiences.

"It turned out there were dozens being abused by Sky. None of them were being given the service they were paying for and in each case Sky didn't seem to give a damn.

"I contacted a few of them who said they would be only too happy to join in a group legal action for damages so I am now talking to my solicitor. There are probably dozens, if not hundreds, of people in Sussex who are being treated like dirt by Sky and I would urge them to write to The Argus so I can tell them how to join my action."

Sky Broadband said it was currently rolling out its service across the country and so far has around 35 per cent of Britain covered with its full broadband service and the rest covered by a service with slightly less capacity.