Mark Todd, MP for South Derbyshire

Mark has written to BT  protesting at the proposed closure of some public payphones in South Derbyshire.

BT is consulting on its plans to remove 18 public payphones within the district as part of a nationwide programme of closures.  The company says that 60 per cent of its payphones nationally are unprofitable and usage has halved in the past two years.

Mark is objecting particularly to the plans for four of these phones - near Melbourne Leisure Centre, next to John Port School in Etwall, at the Post Office in Hatton and at Goseley Avenue, Hartshorne. 

All these locations have large number of users, as many as 2,200 users a year. He also thinks the company should retain the Coton-in-the-Elms phone - which is near a mobile home site.

He said: "I'd argue that the loss of any payphone with usage at these levels would be a severe inconvenience. There are a small number with very small usage (less than 50 callers a year) where it would be hard to argue for retention. 

"Of those in the middle range, one at Coton-in-the-Elms is next to a mobile home park where landline access may be harder. I'd suggest that any phone boxes above two callers a week is retained unless there is clear evidence of a convenient alternative."