Plea over 'lifeline' phone boxes

BT said less than one call a month is made from some phone boxes

BT phone boxes earmarked for closure in the Borders have been described as a lifeline service by a local politician.

Lib Dem MP Michael Moore called for the regulator Ofcom to intervene before plans were implemented to withdraw five phone boxes in the area.

The boxes are to be removed as part of what BT calls a "thinning out" process. The phone company said Ofcom guidelines allowed it to remove a kiosk without consultation as long as there was another within 400m.

The five earmarked for closure are Victoria Road, Hawick; Woodmarket, Kelso; Bennison Square, Eyemouth; Duns Road, Coldstream and Main Street in Denholm.

But the company is also consulting with Scottish Borders Council over the future of a further 46 payphones in the area.

Mr Moore said BT were targeting phone boxes in the wrong type of areas.

We're dealing with lifeline services that could make the difference between somebody getting the emergency services or not Michael Moore MP

"There are phone boxes in the region which are in built-up areas, in areas that have good mobile phone reception," he said.

"BT can make the case to say they are no longer used and they should be withdrawn.

"My anxiety is about removing the phone boxes in more rural parts of the Borders, where there's patchy mobile phone reception.

"In those cases, we're dealing with lifeline services that could make the difference between somebody getting the emergency services or not."

He claimed BT had not argued that its licence requirements were too onerous or subsidy levels too limited to retain the kiosks.

"Instead of making their case to the regulator or government they're simply trying to remove the phone boxes - I think that's the wrong way round," he said.

"The government and Ofcom should step in and prevent this particular series of cuts taking place."

'Social need'

A spokesman for BT said more than 60% of its 5,883 payphones in Scotland were unprofitable.

But he insisted that the firm took its social obligations seriously.

"Any removal of unprofitable payphones is carried out in strict adherence to Ofcom guidelines and, where appropriate, with the consent of the local communities," he said.

"Across Scotland, we plan to remove 473 Payphones that have another situated nearby, and this is simply a question of thinning the estate where there are kiosks close together."

He said BT was consulting with Scottish Borders Council on the future of 46 "unprofitable" phone boxes in the area.

But the spokesman added: "If local authorities can show there is a genuine social need for particular payphones as part of the consultation, then they will not be removed."

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