Rural phone boxes threatened: Martin Tod challenges BT

11.25.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 23rd Jun 2008

Martin Tod making a phone call in the Northington phone box, which is threatened with closure

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Martin Tod has been investigating rural phone boxes threatened with closure and found that BT's own policies are putting many of the phone boxes under threat. Many of the payphones under threat don't take cash, don't have card readers and have very high fixed charges for people who use a debit or credit card.

Mr Tod commented:

"Rural phone boxes need to be treated as a vital emergency service, not milked for profit.

Many of these phone boxes are under threat because of BT's own decisions. Many don't take cash. Many can't read phone or credit cards. And there's an outrageous £1.20 minimum charge to use a credit or debit card.

With all these obstacles, it's completely unreasonable for BT to expect these rural phone boxes to make a big profit.

It's not as if BT are spending loads of money maintaining them. In some cases, they've so covered by undergrowth that people might not even know they are there.

Not everyone has a mobile. And people sometimes run out of credit, run out of battery, or can't find a signal. Phone boxes are also vital for the increasing number of people who don't have a landline and want to call 0800 or 0845 numbers without being ripped off by mobile charges.

Money not good enough?

It's another attack on rural facilities. It's madness for BT to treat phone boxes as profit centres when their own policies stop them making a profit."