End of the line for payphones (From Wirral Globe)

End of the line for payphones

9:11am Wednesday 17th May 2006

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BRITISH Telecom is to scrap three Wirral payphones and remove cash payment facilties from a fourth.

The company says the three phones to be removed - including one traditional "red box" in Welton Avenue, Upton - are no longer commercially viable.

"Some people will wonder why the phones are being removed, but often when you ask those same people when they last used a public payphone they have a lot of trouble remembering."

BT spokeswoman

Last week, members of Wirral Council's planning committee read a report from officers detailing BT's plans.

Since a review by the Office of Communications (OFCOM) in 2005, BT is no longer required to provide cash as a payment facility in up to 30% of its public payphones.

It is also no longer required to consult on the removal of a public payphone if there is another payphone within 400 metres of the one being removed.

The three phones to be removed are the red box in Welton Avenue in Upton, New Hey Road in Woodchurch, and Park Road North in Birkenhead.

The payphone to have the cash payment facility removed is on Birkenhead Road in Meols, near to its junction with Sandringham Avenue.

A BT spokeswoman said the phones cost too much to maintain. Some had been subject to repeated vandalism while in other cases, customers simply didn't make enough calls.

"We appreciate that some people will wonder why the phones are being removed, but often when you ask those same people when they last used a public payphone they have a lot of trouble remembering.

"The boxes are not going just yet, but they will be removed later this year."

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