Payphone boxes set to make a comeback in Telford - with added defibrillators
Payphone boxes are set to make a comeback in Telford as a company lines up the borough for five ‘communications kiosks’ with built-in defibrillators.
The plans lodged by London-based New World Payphones (NWP) are in addition to applications recently made to Telford & Wrekin Council for high-tech BT Street Hubs.
The new card payment-only kiosks would be a “safety net for people without access to a landline or working mobile phone”.
The five kiosks would be near Wellington Police Station, in Victoria Road, Wellington, near the bus station at Northfield Street, next to Asda, at Malinsgate, next to Hollinsgate Roundabout, and at the junction of Lawn Central with Ironmasters Way.
NWP has told council planners that “public call boxes can provide a safety net for people without access to a landline or working mobile phone”.
“In areas with poor mobile coverage a public call box can be the only option for making calls, including to the emergency services.”
It adds that pay phones remain a “necessary public service” for the estimated 2.68 million people in the UK who do not own a mobile phone.
The company says its payphones across the country are used to make thousands of calls to 999, 111, Childline, Samaritans and the housing charity Shelter each year.
If the council agrees, the new boxes will be made of stainless steel and built by UK firm Amscreen.
They will have armoured cord handsets with steel lanyards, touch screens for mapping and wayfinding, digital screens for advertising and the ability to boost 4G mobile phone signals.
The company has told the council that the phone kiosks would bring significant public benefits.
Council planners will make their decisions on each of the five planning applications and five requests for advertising consent at a later date.
