Villagers celebrate return of phone box
CAMPAIGN: Villagers demanded the return of their traditional red telephone box after a car smashed into it in May – and yesterday a grand reopening was held with it restored to its rightful position.
Hundreds of residents in the East Yorkshire village of Atwick, near Hornsea, said they wanted the box back.
IT IS as much a part of the village scene as the nearby pub, the green it stands on or the ancient stone cross across the road.
More importantly, in an area where mobile signals are patchy at best, the red telephone box in the East Yorkshire village of Atwick, near Hornsea, is also potentially a lifesaver.
But when a car smashed into the K6 phone box in May, it looked like it may be lost forever.
However, after hundreds of residents took the time to fill in a village survey to say they wanted its return and local MP Graham Stuart intervened, BT relented.
Yesterday saw the grand reopening of the grade II-listed phone box, restored to its rightful position on the village green.
Mike Crowther, chairman of Atwick Parish Council said: “On Saturday May 13 a driver came down the hill from Hornsea, ploughed through the stone planter, through the telephone box and finally came to a rest, having done quite a lot of damage to the car and to the village.”
After BT set up a consultation, villagers decided to do their own survey.
“We felt we shouldn’t just give up without an attempt to get them to change their mind,” said Mike.
“We got 206 signatures on a petition in a village which only has about 250 registered voters – a very good response.
“The phone box is an important part of the village both visually and, equally significantly, it’s a vital resource. This isn’t a good mobile signal area. It’s patchy and it does come and go.
“In my walkround I even discovered a couple who didn’t have a landline and used it and were devastated it was gone.” Despite this the feedback from BT via East Riding Council was negative, so the parish council asked Mr Stuart to step in. At first BT said it wasn’t policy to replace the K6s. But it was finally persuaded, installing an unused identical model at the location of the old one. Mr Crowther said: “We are really pleased to see it back and would like to thank BT for responding to the community.”
Mr Stuart said he was delighted to play a part in getting the telecoms giant to restore “the handsome red BT phone box on the green”.
Mark Johnson, BT payphones commercial manager, said: “It was inspiring to see the passion shown by local people to keep their red phone box in the heart of the community and we were pleased to help out by installing a fully restored replacement.
“We hope the new box will further enhance the beauty of the village.”
The decline in payphone usage has seen thousands of the distinctive red telephone boxes disappear. From their 1980s heyday when there were 73,000, there are now just 7,000.
Those that have been decommissioned have been put to some practical and downright quirky uses, including selling souvenirs in Brighton, a salad stall in London and a coffee shop in Birmingham.
There are about 2,400 grade II-listed phone boxes in the country. Red phone boxes can also be seen on the streets of Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar.
We are really pleased to see it back and want to thank BT. Mike Crowther, chairman of Atwick Borough Council.