Thurso Phone boxes removed

[Fran]

[mad] I was quite shocked today to see the two phone boxes in Thurso being dismantled and removed. Not everyone has a mobile phone and now there are no phone boxes. What happens if someone is in an emergency situation and does not have a mobile and there is no public phone box?????? [evil]

[katarina]

And what are the poor vandals going to vandalise now? cars?

[Mr P Cannop]

what phone boxs have been taken away ??

[Bill Fernie]

I have been trying to hgihlight this for some time.

See http://www.caithness.org/telephones/disappearingkiosks.htm

The last round of telephone bax removals was out for consultation and very few people contacted BT to object. consequently the boxes where no objection was received are being removed. but that is not the end as BT are now setting about second round of consultation on another different set of boxes. Notices will be posted on them and again if no reponses are received and upheld they willbe removed. Further many of those left may be changed to cashless boxes only useable with the correct phone card or to contact emergency services.

This is where I think consultation may not reeally work to the puiblic advantage as if no one bothers until it is too late then the boxes will be gone for ever. BT has a separate company for Telephone Kiosks and it has been made to stand alone and be self sufficient. The public serivce element is still there but the whole business must balance its books under the current set up. Mobile phones are being blamed for the most part for the downturn in usage. This is the same as the buses against cars. As car usage grew so in rural areas there were less buses. At the current rate of removal in a few years phone boxes will be very rare in the countryside.

So if you thnk a phone that gets a removal notice is vital for any reason whatsoever then make a representation via Ken McCorquodale, Policy Office, Chief Executive's Office, The Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness IV3 5NX. You must be specific about each telephone kiosk and say why you think a particular kiosk should be kept. General arguments such as we think they should remain as a public service will carry no weight. If for example you know a disabled person lives nearby and has no telephone then that might be reason. An accident blackspot. Any essential user reason will be considered. If they do not get any they will assume that the particular kiosk is not really necessary and it will be removed.

This is the second set of kiosks being consulted on in less than 12 months. Be sure another round will probably follow if it looks like this can be carry on to remove kioslks that do not make revenue.

Keep those mobile phone batteries charged up before making any trips.

PS
Does anyone remember that scary Spanish film that started off very innocently with a guy ot and then someone was trapped in the phone box and he could not get out. No dialogue in the film just a nice sunny day - children playing etc. Then they came and took the box away with him still in it. As he travelled along he began to see other vans with telephone boxes being transported with people still in them. He ends up at a sort of telepehone grave yard with people in various stages of decay trapped in the phone boxes. Music FADES - THE END Lets hope not too many boxes end up in a Highland Telephone box graveyard - or is it progress!!! Hm..............

[Fran]

Thank you for all the info on phone boxes Bill, i will certainly write and complain. I didn't know about the plan to abolish phone boxes and i feel it should be stopped, after all it is a public service. I have a mobile phone, but I am thinking of people in the country who only have their phone boxes, e.g. Bower and Watten. Also it is not a good thing to ring 999 on a mobile, it is better to use a landline phone. Hope everyone will do thier bit to save the phone boxes.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

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PS
Does anyone remember that scary Spanish film that started off very innocently with a guy ot and then someone was trapped in the phone box and he could not get out. No dialogue in the film just a nice sunny day - children playing etc. Then they came and took the box away with him still in it. As he travelled along he began to see other vans with telephone boxes being transported with people still in them. He ends up at a sort of telepehone grave yard with people in various stages of decay trapped in the phone boxes. Music FADES - THE END Lets hope not too many boxes end up in a Highland Telephone box graveyard - or is it progress!!! Hm..............[/quote]

Yeah! Totally! That freaked me out bigtime. One of the best short films I've ever seen.

[luskentyre]

The film is called "La Cabina" and you can read about it here

>>> http://sarahbyte.f2s.com/lacabina.htm