End of the line for Blackpool's phone boxes?

Now a Blackpool councillor is questioning whether some payphone kiosks are in fact detrimental to the communities they are meant to serve and so should be removed.

Squires Gate representative Coun Alistair Humphreys says some are a magnet for anti-social behaviour or even crime, such as drug dealing.

He fears others are just a place for disreputable premises to advertise their services, while some booths have deteriorated to become eyesores.

Now he is calling on Blackpool Council to take an official stance on the issue by asking for pressure to be put on BT to review its criteria for the removal of some phone boxes.

Coun Humphreys has submitted a notice of motion to tomorrow’s meeting of the full council saying while some phone boxes are a community asset, others ‘can also be a source and cause of crime and anti-social behaviour particularly drug dealing’.

His motion adds the council should therefore call upon British Telecom ‘to review its criteria for the removal of telephone boxes to take into account such crime and anti-social behaviour issues evidenced by responsible authorities’.

It goes on to say: “The council therefore asks the chief executive to write to the Home Secretary to request that the council’s concerns be raised with telephone box providers.”

Councillors will debate the issue tomorrow before deciding whether or not they agree to go forward with the call.

But Coun Humphreys says he believes it is a town-wide problem.

He said: “In my ward there was a particular problem with a phone box on Harrowside but BT have since cleaned it up.

“But in investigating this, I found many phone boxes are just magnets for anti-social behaviour with young people crowding into them, or drug dealers using them.

“Some are used to advertise brothels and massage parlours.

“I agree that in some remote places phone boxes are needed in case an emergency call needs to be made, but in built-up areas they are used less and less.

“I think BT should be held to account in relation to some of the things their phone boxes are being used for, and also if they are unsightly.”

BT says use of phone boxes has declined by more than 90 per cent in the last decade but any removal of payphones can only be done in line with current guidelines. It urges people to report any unsightly or damaged boxes but says removing them will not reduce anti-social behaviour.

A BT spokesman said: “BT is committed to providing a public payphone service, but with usage declining by over 90 per cent in the last decade, we’ve continued to review and remove payphones which are no longer needed.

“Any removal of payphones is carried out in strict adherence to the Ofcom guidelines and, where appropriate, with the consent of local authorities.

“We will repair any damage to the payphones.

“Removing them will not stop people behaving anti-socially, the problems will just move elsewhere.

“Anti-social behaviour is a matter for the police. Damage to any of our payphones can be reported by calling our Freephone number 0800 661 610.”

The decline of the phone box

In 1992 at their peak before mobile phones became popular, there were 92,000 phone boxes in the UK.

But now there are only around 40,000 remaining in the UK with BT set to scrap many more as usage declines further.

The cost of maintaining telephone boxes annually is about £6m.