Now number may be up for one in 5 payphones
THEY are a lifeline for remote communities with a poor mobile phone signal.
But a fifth of` payphones in the Highlands are at risk of being scrapped, sparking concerns for public safety.
BT began a public consultation on proposals to remove 110 of the region’s 508 kiosks, including from reception blackspots at Dingwall and Alness in Ross-shire, and Spean Bridge in Inverness-shire.
A number of objections have been filed, with Highland Council warning that axing phone boxes would ‘exacerbate risks to public safety in the event of an emergency’.
We told in August how BT had earmarked 650 phones around Scot land to be removed from service. The planned scrapping of the landline at the Post Office in the conservation village of Tomich, near Beauly, Inverness-shire, drew complaints from 20 people.
The consultation notes there is ‘no mobile coverage, no alternative within 15 miles... [Tomich] is popular with tourists and walkers, who may depend on payphone in emergencies’.
Similar fears have been raised over plans to remove the phone in Killilan, near Dornie, Ross-shire.
Thirteen objections have been received, including from Dornie Community Council, which noted the phone’s ‘significant use to reach
emergency services’. The consultation states: ‘No mobile signal within six miles... Payphone is vital to raising alarm in case of distress on hills or injury of estate workers.’
Residents of the coastal village of Morar, near Mallaig, Invernessshire, warned their payphone was the only one within three miles, in an area ‘with no mobile reception’.
They added the village ‘has occasionally been cut off by flooding and snow’ with the phone box ‘essential for walkers and users of the loch to call emergency services’.
The community council said a recent ‘16 recorded calls relate to life-saving emergencies’.
Highland Council’s concerns will go before a committee next week.
BT said: ‘Calls from public telephones have fallen by around 90 per cent in the past decade. The need to provide payphones for use in emergency situations is also diminishing, with at least 98 per cent of the UK having 3G or 4G coverage.’