Why it’s still good to talk on public payphones

The answer is yes – and in some Sheffield neighbourhoods, hundreds of calls are made each year on the trusty payphone.

When BT announced it wanted to remove 27 payphones in the city, Sheffield Council asked for a breakdown of the calls made at each one in a year.

And the results are surprising – from the phone boxes where not one single call has been made in a year to the one where well over 500 calls were made.

The phone box near the junction of Northern Avenue at Arbourthorne is the most well used with 568 calls.

Other phone boxes with more than 400 calls include the ones at Blackstock Road in Gleadless, Longley Avenue West at Longley and Ellesmere Road, Burngreave.

And phone boxes with hundreds of calls include Chaucer Road at Parson Cross, Liberty Hill at Stannington, Lowedges Road, Hazelbarrow Road at Jordanthorpe, Fleury Road at Gleadless and Hunstone Avenue at Meadowhead.

There was a total of 157 emergency calls made from the phone boxes on the list.

A payphone at Margate Drive, Grimesthorpe, had the highest number of 999 calls with 39.

By contrast, phone boxes at Crosspool, Prince of Wales Road, Chapeltown and Handsworth didn’t have one single call in a year.

The council says the high number of calls shows people still have a social need for public pay phones.

It says about the Chaucer Road phone: “High usage last year would suggest at least some social need for a payphone. It is located within an area of widespread council housing estates that would suggest likelihood of low incomes.”

There are also phone boxes in places like Bradfield – which had 42 calls in a year – where the council says mobile signals are poor and the village is isolated.

BT says 98 per cent of people now have a mobile phone and 999 calls can be made even when people have no credit or coverage.

Liz Needleman, BT group spokesperson for the North of England, said: “Most people now have a mobile phone and calls made from our public telephones have fallen by around 90 per cent in the past decade.

“We consider a number of factors before consulting on the removal of payphones, including whether others are available nearby and how frequently they are used.

“The payphone in Northern Avenue is used, on average, less than twice a day by the community.

“However, the consultation process allows us to understand any objections, and all views and feedback will be carefully considered before a decision is made.”