Anger as red phone box removed from market place

A bid to turn the phone box into a defibrillator station was refused in 2021

A red phone box has been removed from Ilkeston market place and is unlikely to be returned.

Residents have said they were upset to see the phone box uprooted and loaded onto the back of a lorry on August 1.

Erewash MP Maggie Throup and traders have called for the phone box to be returned as "important part of the town's heritage".

But British Telecom has said it is impossible to put the K6 phone box back in place now it has been taken out.

In a letter to BT, Ms Throup wrote: "The removal took place on 1st August 2023 without any prior consultation or notification to the Local Authority (Erewash Borough Council), despite the fact that the K6 was sited within the town centre conservation area."

In a tweet, she has since called for BT to return it.

Sales manager and voluntary first responder, Ryan Shelton, 37, said he had actually applied to turn the phone box into a station for a defibrillator in 2021, but was refused.

He said: "They said no. Phone boxes now, especially the red ones, have become the place to be for defibrillators to be housed."

"A lot of residents are upset and angry."

A defibrillator was installed on the side of the public toilets last year, just a few metres from where the phone box was.

However, due to council cuts Mr Shelton is concerned that if the public toilets are sold they will need to find a new place to put the defibrillator.

A BT spokesperson said that the removal was part of a "UK-wide review of payphones" and it was one of "hundreds of other redundant payphones scheduled to be removed" as the vast majority of people are now using mobile phones.

In response to the request made by the Community First Responders in 2021 a BT spokesperson: "At the time of the request, the kiosk was reserved for another purpose which meant we were unable to proceed with the adoption at that time.

The spokesperson added that it was not known what the removed phone box would be used for, as it needed to be examined to check its condition first, however it was unlikely to be returned through its "Adopt a Kiosk" scheme, which was only applicable to payphones still in operation.

"Once the phone box has been removed, they're no longer available to adopt at that location." the spokesperson said.

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