Patchy mobile coverage means BT must not axe phone box lifelines in the Dales: The Yorkshire Post says

Communities in North Yorkshire hope phone boxes can be protected from closure.
Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe — Communities in North Yorkshire hope phone boxes can be protected from closure. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

A recent council report pointed out that the area only has 65 per cent geographic coverage by the main operators – compared to 91 per cent nationally.

The old-fashioned red telephone boxes still hanging on: The Yorkshire Post says

It is in this context that efforts to pressure BT not to axe any of its traditional phone boxes around the Yorkshire Dales must be seen. While they are often little-used, because of patchy mobile coverage they can be a literal lifeline to people who require urgent assistance in an emergency situation.

While traditional red phone boxes which were once a common sight in every city, town and village have been gradually disappearing as personal mobile phone ownership has become nearly universal, the situation in the Dales is quite simple – until mobile coverage issues have been resolved, the phone boxes must stay.