Going, going, for £1 - a parish's unwanted red phone box

A VANDALISED and unwanted West Somerset red telephone box (pictured) has been put up for sale by telecoms firm BT for just £1.
Huish Champflower Parish Council was asked if it wanted to buy the call box on Wiveliscombe Road, but turned down the offer because of the cost of maintenance and repairs caused by vandalism.
It is one of 24 in West Somerset which BT wants to remove in a cost-cutting exercise because they have been little used in the past year.
BT said the last time the box was used to make a call was more than a year ago.
Villager John Moore, a former parish council chairman said: “The offer of £1 is purely for the phone box.
“The apparatus inside comes at a much higher price. I understand BT were looking to charge the council over £500.
“There are all sorts of other things being discussed with regards to maintenance of the apparatus, such as who would be responsible for the equipment and ensuring the public safety.”
West Somerset Council is deciding on how to respond to BT’s proposals to close little-used call boxes.
It has the power of a ‘local veto’ which would force BT to go through an appeals process before it could remove any of the call boxes.
BT has claimed there was no longer any need for the public telephone boxes because most people these days had a mobile phone they could use instead.