BT is progressively removing little or unused phone kiosks around the country. The number of calls from phone boxes has fallen. Some have not been used in the last year, even longer. Some have been vandalised.
The result is that several Ludlow phone kiosks have been removed in recent years. Now, BT wants to remove the phone box on Upper Galdeford outside the former Budgens store. This is wrong. The box was used for 435 calls in the year up to September 2019. That’s not huge. I am sure it is not profitable for BT. But the phone kiosk is still in active use and should be maintained.
The growing assumption is that everyone has immediate access to a working mobile phone. If that was the case, this phone box would not have been used more than 400 times in a year. The kiosk is adjacent to the town taxi rank. Very often there is not a taxi on the stand. That might be part of the reason of the calls. But when we were painting the Ludlow Art Mural in the autumn of 2018, I also saw lots of people using the phone and it was clear that few were booking taxis.
Communication is vital to our modern world. To get access to health, to job opportunities and to friends. The reality is that not everyone has access to a working mobile phone all the time.
That’s why we need to keep this phone box in place and working.
Any comments made below or sent to kate.adams@ludlow.gov.uk will be include in the response to BT’s consultation. You can also message me on Facebook.
I believe all phone boxes in towns need to be kept as longa s calls are made. Older people do not have mobiles and with a taxi rank there they probably used for that.
Until the call rate drops extremely low.