Lack of mobile signal puts country workers at risk

The Scottish Highlands and Powys in Wales have the least mobile signal in the UK, according to the RAC.

This news will be of little surprise to rural workers in these areas who have no choice but to venture out on to road and hill tracks to tend to game and livestock in the severest weather. In the event of an accident they are left vulnerable and unable to call emergency services.

Areas with no mobile coverage at all account for around two per cent of Britain’s road network and include stretches of the

A591 in Cumbria, the A93 in Scotland, the A494 in Wales and the A149 in East Anglia. The rest of the worst 10 areas in terms of mobile coverage are Argyll and Bute, Cumbria, Devon, Dumfries and Galloway, North Yorkshire, the Scottish Borders, Gwynedd and Ceredigion.

RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding commented: “There are thousands of miles of road along which you would not want to break down or have an accident because calling the RAC, the emergency services or even home wouldn’t be an option.”

Two per cent of the country’s road network has no mobile coverage