Advertisement
News

Ringing out: BT to axe 20,000 unused phone boxes by 2022

The famous yet obsolete telephone box continues to litter streets across Britain. Now, BT has announced, it’s time for the derelict boxes to go.

A familiar feature on Britain’s streets, the iconic telephone box is nearing the end of the line.

Once a lifeline to the wider world for many, a way to avoid a row if you were running late for your tea, today they lie dormant, sad and sometimes a bit smelly, housing only empty chip wrappers and the occasional fly-poster.

This week, BT hung up on 20,000 phone boxes across the country after usage plummeted by 90% in the past decade. 33,000 calls a day are still made from phone boxes. But a third are only used on average once a month, with many others abandoned completely.

With the number of calls dropping 20% each year and the cost of maintenance rising to £6m it seems the landmark is running out of spare change to keep the calls going.

At their peak, there were 92,000 payphones in the UK, but with other countries ditching the dated method of communication (Finland, for example, chucked all of their phone booths in 2007), the British telecoms giant has followed suit.

While the payphone is fazed out, over 2,000 traditional red cast iron boxes will survive the cull – as they are as categorised as Grade II listed buildings. And if you’ve got a spare few quid, you could even pick up one of your own.

Advertisement
Advertisement

BT’s Adopt-A-Kiosk scheme gives communities the chance to retain their iconic red kiosk, developing it into whatever they please. Since the campaign launched, 4,000 red boxes across the UK have been returned to their former glory, housing everything from a life-saving defibrillator to a community library.

Fancy picking up one of your own?Take a look at how your community can band together to save the red icon.

Advertisement

Become a Big Issue member

3.8 million people in the UK live in extreme poverty. Turn your anger into action - become a Big Issue member and give us the power to take poverty to zero.

Recommended for you

Read All
Cash-strapped council warns it's at breaking point as neighbour places homeless people in its town
homeless peoples' tents in street
Homelessness

Cash-strapped council warns it's at breaking point as neighbour places homeless people in its town

Disabled people losing jobs and 'falling out of work' due to months-long waits for DWP support
disabled person working
Disability rights

Disabled people losing jobs and 'falling out of work' due to months-long waits for DWP support

Homeless families occupy council housing offices on Halloween in plea to fix 'houses of horror'
Homeless families at a protest about council housing
Homelessness

Homeless families occupy council housing offices on Halloween in plea to fix 'houses of horror'

'Back to cost of living crisis': Households will be £770 worse off by next UK election, experts say
woman in supermarket
Cost of living crisis

'Back to cost of living crisis': Households will be £770 worse off by next UK election, experts say

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue