Quarter’s telephone box may be removed

Jul 17 2008 by Alastair McNeill, Hamilton Advertiser

A QUARTER phone box has been earmarked for removal in a BT review of public payphones.

BT have said that the phone is “little used” and it has now entered into a consultation over closure.

Scottish Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell this week urged community councils in the Hamilton area to lobby South Lanarkshire for the authority to give its support to retaining the phone box.

She said: “It is important that local communities continue to have access to public phone boxes.

“This is particularly necessary as in some areas mobile phone reception is, at best, patchy and at worst non-existent.

“Furthermore, various people choose not to have a landline and are totally dependent on pay-phone boxes, the closure of which in an emergency could potentially cause real problems.

“I hope local people will join the campaign as BT has indicated that it will listen to the local councils regarding the targeted phone boxes.”