The kiosks were recently restored by http://www.unicornkiosks.com/
"Unicorn restored the famous "Tumbling Telephones"sculpture in Kingston upon
Thames. The sculpture is a line of twelve kiosks leaning against one another on edge.The sculpture
by David Mach is properly called "Out of Order" and had suffered from vandalism. We stripped the paintback to the metal and
welded the breaks. After painting we fitted new handles and Telephone signs.The sculpture was officially
re-opened by the Mayor of Kingston."
![705 Payphone [Courtesy of Andy Harris]](uk.htm8.jpg)
ISLE OF FOULA
20MILES WEST OF THE SHETLAND ISLANDS
This one's nearer to Iceland than it is to London.
Kiosk installed in 1956 and never painted since hence the delicate shade
of pink!.
Button A/B box working here until 1994.
Both the old telephone exchange (The BT's last public electro-mechanical
exchange) and the A/B box preserved by myself (Ian)!
It is the only A/B box that I have seen which takes the old 5p and 10 p
pieces (other UK decimal A/B boxes take 2p and old 10p pieces).
Ordnance Survey Grid Reference HT 969389
Latitude 60 deg 8 minutes North - Longtitude 2 deg 3 minutes East. +441595696207
ON THE REMOTE ISLAND OF CANNA IN THE
HEBRIDES TO THE NOTH WEST OF THE MAINLAND (U.K.).
2.5 HOURS BY BOAT FROM THE MAINLAND AT MALLAIG.
Phone number was originally "Canna
20X" and later "Mallaig 2460"
but is now "+441687462460".
The telephone exchange on Canna only has 12 telephones on it in the range
"46246X" and "46247X" - the population
is about 15.
A/B box in use here until July 1994.
Exchange and A/B box preserved by myself (Ian). +441687462460
CRICH TRAMWAY MUSEUM IN DERBYSHIRE
The last A/B box still working on the
public telephone network.
It's located in a 1926 K1 type kiosk.
Telephone number is an Ambergate telephone number.
Ambergate was the first production TXE2 electronic exchange in the GPO
public network back in the 1960's!
In 1921, the first standard kiosk would appear, the 'K1'. It was adapted from the Birmingham model and would later be redesigned with a different window frame. Many places would only have the kiosks in their own colours and in some cases, modifications were made to boxes.
In 1923, the GPO held a competition to design a new kiosk. Several designs from companies and architects were entered.
In 1926 the chosen design appeared, Giles Gilbert Scott's K2. The new design had one feature that would become fluent in the telephone box, a domed roof. It is said that the idea came from a lantern at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. The K2 was too big and too expensive for mass production so the K1 Mk 236 was introduced in 1927 and produced throughout the country.
The GPO still wanted a new design and asked Sir Giles to produce another design, in 1929 the K3 appeared, a smaller, concrete version of the K2. The kiosk was a success with 12,000 appearing over the country.
Introduced in 1927, the K4 was intended to be a 24 hour post office with a stamp machine and letter box added to the back of what looked like a stretched K2. It was nicknamed the Vermillion Giant and was a fantastic failure. Only 50 were produced.
In 1934, a K5 was produced, made of plywood as a temporary kiosks for use at exhibitons and fairs etc.. It was only very recently that this was discovered and it is not known if any originals still survive as the one pictured left is a mockup from the original designs.
With the K3s still at large and problems occuring with them, a new cast iron box was needed and in 1936 the K6 appeared for the first time on the streets. The kiosk was perfect, it had all the good points of the K1s and K3s mixed with the solidness of the K2 and most importantly, the small size and elegance the GPO were looking for. It did have vandal problems though, so in 1939 a Mk 2 design came out with improved features to make them less of an easy target for the vandal. The K6 was widely used to replace K1s and K3 and by the end of production, there were nearly 70,000 K6s in Britain. Many areas didn't approve of the red and so were allowed to paint them in alternative colour schemes (although these days, most of them have been returned to red!).
Now into the 1960's and the GPO were concidering a new design. Nevill Conder's design for a K7 was chosen. It was made in alluminium and was tested in 1962. The K7 was not adopted as a new design and only 5 were made.
In 1965, another competiton was held to design a new kiosk, the K8. Bruce Martin was the winning architect and his design appeared in 1968. It was a very new design to the previous ones. The main differences were that the glazing bars had gone to be replaced with just 1 big window on each side of the kiosk and the domed roof was replaced with a much flatter design. Nearly 4,000 K8s would appear, some of which replaced K6s.
Things were still to change, over the next few years many different designs of telephone kiosk were looked at but none chosen as kiosks for the country.
In 1985, the most radical change was to happen, British Telecom announced there would be a major improvenet to the public telephone service and introduced the 'KX' range. A selection of new designs taht were to be the most perfect telephone kiosks you could imagine. The most commonly used design was the KX100 which was the kiosk design but alson introduced were the KX200, a hooded unit, the KX300, a triangular unit designed to be used in groups and the KX410 & 420, phones on posts. Nobody could deny the fuctionality of the designs as their main objectives were there, easy for disabled people to use and very easy to maintain, but everybody could deny the attractiveness of the designs. In the late 90s, BT made an attempt to win the public over to the KX range by introducing the KXPlus wihc is basically a KX100 with a red bar round the sides and a domed red roof. The K6 was widely replaced with KXs and there was much uproar at the loss of the classic kiosk. Today, many places are being reunited with K6s as a scheme mainly in the mid to late 90s to reinstall the kiosks took place.
Another factor in the story of the telephone box is that particularly in the mid to late 90s, several companies challenged BT's telephone boxes by bringing out their own new and perfect kiosks and more recently, with the popularity of the moblie phone, Kiosks are becoming redundant and many are being removed. BTs KXPlus range are now appearing in blue with Broadband access in them which could be the last throw of the dice to save the telephone box.
Many tried hard but never got close to designing that kiosk that would become worldly recognised and used on countless items of London merchandise and treasured garden ornaments etc... as Sir Giles Gilbert Scott did.
Public Call Boxes (PCB) in the UK
Public payphones
A consultation document issued by the Director
General of Telecommunications
14 November 2001
-There are currently more than 97,000 PCBs in the UK together with more
than 58,500 operator-managed payphones (payphones that look very similar to
PCBs but which are located on private land). This is almost double the number in
place in 1984 when BT was privatised, and compares favourably with comparable
EU Member States.
-However, increased ownership of mobile phones has had a significant impact
on the level of usage of PCBs. This has in turn affected PCB revenues – BT’s PCB
revenues declined by forty per cent in the period 1999-2001 and Kingston
Communications’ PCB revenues declined by ten per cent per annum during that
same period.
The current payphone market
-There are two main categories of payphone which have been identified for
regulatory purposes in the UK. These are PCBs which are situated on public land,
and private payphones which are situated on private land.
-Within the general term private payphones there exist two sub-divisions:
telecom operator managed payphones (which look very much like PCBs but which
are situated on private land such as railway stations and motorway service
stations); and independent private payphones (operated by individuals such as
publicans or landlords of rented accommodation). Annex C sets out in more detail
the regulatory requirements of the different types of payphone operating in the UK.
-The focus of this consultation document is PCBs together with telecom
operator-managed payphones (‘managed payphones’).
PCB provision across the UK
-Following the first phase of UK telecommunications liberalisation in 1984, a
substantial programme of new PCB installations was carried out in the 1980s to
mid-1990s. During that period demand for PCBs was still strong, especially in
urban and suburban areas. In that period BT installed almost 17,000 new PCBs
and the new market entrants installed more than 2,500. This was largely
commercially motivated rather than the result of any need to increase coverage
due to the universal service obligation.
-Current provision can be summarised as follows:
• there are now more than 155,000 PCBs and managed payphones in the UK,
whereas in 1984 there were approximately 77,000;
• there are approximately 97,000 PCBs in the UK for a population of 60
million;
• more than ninety-five per cent of BT’s payphones are in good working order
at any given time, whereas in 1984 the figure was seventy-six per cent;
• more than 140 new PCBs over and above those installed on commercial
grounds have been installed by BT under the social need criteria agreed
with Oftel in 1997; and
• the number of PCBs in the UK allowing dual payment by coin in addition to
card (‘multi-format payment option PCBs’) is higher than in many EU
Member States. Where more than one PCB is located at a site it is more
likely than not that dual payment options will be available.
Companies operating PCBs in the UK
-There are currently four companies in the UK which provide PCB services.
These companies are:
Company Number of PCBs
BT 94,000
Kingston Communications 478*
NWP Communications 1,000
Infolines-premier 1,673
* All located within the Kingston-upon-Hull area.
BT and Kingston Communications are both subject to universal service obligations
(BT across the whole of the UK with the exception of the Kingston area, and
Kingston Communications only within the Kingston area).
-The regional split of BT’s PCBs is broadly as follows:
Area Number of PCBs
Greater London 15,000
Large cities 16,000
Small cities/large towns 16,000
Towns 17,000
Rural 30,000
-NWP Communications and Infolines-premier are not subject to universal
service obligations and may therefore install PCBs at locations of choice, subject
to local planning approval. In practice this means that most of their PCBs are
located in urban or suburban areas.
Companies operating managed payphones in the UK
-Not all companies engaged in payphone provision are individually licensed
and some, for example, operate under what is termed a class licence which does
not require any pre-notification or registration. From the information available to
Oftel there are approximately 58,500 managed payphones in the UK, although it is
possible that there are more. The following list represents the companies of which
Oftel is aware that operate these payphones:
Company Number of payphones
BT 46,000
NWP Communications 6,500
Infolines 4,000
Ecosse Payphones 2,000
Euro Payphones 200
ITR Telecom Ltd [not known]
ITG [not known]
Payphone revenues
-In terms of PCBs, Oftel understands that BT’s revenues have declined by 40
per cent in the period 1999-2001, and that during the same period Kingston
Communications’ revenues have declined by ten per cent per annum and NWP’s
PCB revenues have declined by 13 per cent per annum.
-In relation to managed payphones Oftel understands that these are also
experiencing rapidly declining revenues, with, for example, BT seeing a 17 per
cent decline per annum for the period 1999-2001 and NWP as the second largest
provider witnessing declining revenues of 15 per cent for the year to June 1999
and 21 per cent for the year to June 2000. There are however some areas of the
managed payphone sector which are resisting this trend (for example managed
payphones which are provided in hospitals) but the overall picture, as evidenced
by these figures, is of declining usage and declining revenues.
Country Number of PCBs Approximate
population
millions
Ratio of PCBs per
head of
population
UK 97,000 60 1 : 618
Germany 128,500 82 1 : 638
France 75,450 59 1 : 782
Spain 40,850 39 1 : 955
Netherlands 16,000 15.5 1 : 975
Prostitutes’ cards in PCBs
-The proposal to permit limited incoming call barring to PCBs is quite separate
from discussions which Oftel has had with the Home Office and the telecoms
industry in relation to steps which the industry might take to help tackle the
problem of prostitutes’ cards in PCBs. The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001
creates a new offence of placing prostitutes’ cards on or in the immediate vicinity
of a public call box and this may be extended to other street furniture such as bus
shelters and street lamps should the need arise. The Director General has made
clear his support for the creation of this new criminal offence and welcomes the
news that a number of early arrests have been made under the new Act since it
came into force in September 2001.
|
1 |
Non-BT kiosks |
|
1.1 |
Telephone kiosks are a rateable
occupation of land under the provisions of Section 64 (4)(a) to the
Local Government Finance Act 1988. Telephone kiosks are specifically
mentioned as part of a Central Rating List Telecom Operator’s
rateable assets in Regulation 4 of the Non-Domestic Rating
(Railways, Telecommunications and Canals) Regulations 1994 |
|
1.2 |
BT operate the majority of Public
Telephone Kiosks in the UK. BT has a universal service obligation
under the terms of their Public Telephone Operators licence. BT’s
kiosks are included in their central rating list assessment. Central
List Telecommunications Hereditaments are dealt with at CEO by the
Central Valuation Officer, see Rating Manual - Volume 2 : Section
12, Practice Note 2, paragraph 3.5. |
|
1.3 |
Kingston Communications (Hull) plc
occupy some 500 public telephone kiosks in their original PTO
licence area, which was, but is no longer, restricted to the
Kingston upon Hull conurbation area. Kingston's kiosks are assumed
to be contiguous with and therefore included in their public
telephone network hereditament, which has been valued on a Receipts
and Expenditure basis and therefore do not require individual
assessments. |
|
|
|
|
2. |
Brief History |
|
2.1 |
The Post Office Telephones (now BT)
introduced the K6 Jubilee kiosk, with the numerous small windows, in
1936 and it became the standard for 30 years. British
Telecommunications plc (BT) had a total of 113,550 public telephone
kiosks in England, Scotland and Wales as at 1/4/95 with 94,200
located on public land and 19,350 on private land. The kiosks in
England and Wales are included in BT's Central list assessments. |
|
2.2 |
Mercury Communications Limited (MCL)
installed their first kiosk at Waterloo railway station in 1988 and
occupied some 2,500 public telephone kiosks in England, Scotland and
Wales as at 1/4/95. The kiosks in England and Wales were included in
MCL's Central list assessments until 1/10/95 when MCL sold 1,500 of
their kiosk sites to IPM - Inter-Phone (IPM) and withdrew from the
payphone market completely. |
|
2.3 |
The Duopoly review in 1991 and the
subsequent liberalisation of the telecommunications market has
allowed operators other than BT, MCL and Kingston to obtain PTO
licences from the DTI and install public telephone kiosks in the UK. |
|
2.4 |
IPM Inter-Phone were granted a
licence on 9 June 1995 and their first kiosk, on the Tottenham Court
Road, London became operational on 3/7/95. IPM removed the 1,500 MCL
kiosks and had replaced 700 with their own design (mainly Orange or
Black) by December 1995, with all 1,500 sites operational by
September 1996. |
|
2.5 |
New World Payphones (NWP) were
granted a licence on 5 February 1996 and launched their first public
highway located kiosk in August 1996, with 500 sites being
operational on Public and Private sites by September 1997. NWP
kiosks are mainly red or black. |
|
2.6 |
Eurobell had installed some 20 Public
Telephone Kiosks in their Cable TV franchise areas in West Kent,
Sussex and the South West by April 1996. |
|
2.7 |
Interactive kiosks have been trailed
by BT, who planned to install 1,000 by April 2000, mainly in railway
stations, airports, shopping malls and other secure locations but
this planned roll out has been delayed. Other private operators are
also installing Interactive kiosks but little detail is known at
this time. The Interactive kiosks have a TV screen often with touch
controls and are linked by telephone lines to customers who offer
goods and services or to internet providers or web sites offering
local information and ticket booking facilities. |
