Mobile phones killing iconic red telephone boxes

The iconic red telephone box could be extinct within 10 years as more people rely on mobile phones, according to a survey.

Eight out of ten people expect the British design classic to be consigned to the annals of history by 2020, according to a poll by rightmobilephone.co.uk .

Nearly three quarters (74 per cent) said they had not used a pay phone in the last five years, with 92 per cent making calls from their mobile instead.

However, mobiles were not the only factor putting people off, 32 per cent thought phone boxes were unhygienic and 64 per cent said they could no longer memorise numbers.

There are currently 67,000 phone boxes in the UK, with the majority provided by BT. However, in the last eight years 28,500 phone boxes have been removed.

Neil McHugh, founder of rightmobilephone.co.uk, said: "Mobile phones have been threatening the existence of BT's red phone boxes for a long time now, as a large majority of the general public simply don't have the need for them anymore.

It is a real shame and sad to think that they may not be around some time in the not so distant future."

He added: "If the respondents' predictions are correct, they could be gone as soon as 2020. I believe that could be a fairly accurate estimation, because as mobile technology improves even more over the years, there's just going to be less of a need for telephone boxes."

Over 1,700 people were surveyed by rightmobilephone. co.uk between June 19 to 27.