Blaze destroys phone box Shropshire library
A red phone box which was being used as a mini community library in a village has been gutted by fire.
The phone box in Sham Lane, Romsley, near Bridgnorth, caught fire just after 5.30pm on Sunday and passers-by quickly phoned 999 after seeing the smoke. The inside was damaged and the books destroyed.
It is not yet known how the blaze was started, but fire chiefs are investigating the possibility of arson.
Alveley and Romsley parish councillor Richard Tweedie said local people had been left upset by the incident.
He said: "It was a landmark. That is how everyone saw it really. It was a nice old fashioned phone box with a light in, and we had used it as a parish library.
"It was quite popular really, it is such a tragedy."
Councillor Tweedie said people from around the village had joined together to help clean it up.
He said: "I know what I hope and think will happen now – I think we'll get together and I am sure we will decide to clean it up, sort it out and give it another go."
Parish council clerk Graham Hurry said BT decommissioned the phone box three years ago and sold it to the council for £1.
He said: "After a consultation with local people it was decided it would be turned into a library for the community.
"People could drop books off there when they had finished with them for others to come along and borrow them.
"There was a fire there on Sunday but we don't know what the cause was yet, whether it was an electrical fault or whether it was arson."
Two fire crews put out the flames in half an hour using a hose reel jet.
