ONE of 31 public telephone boxes facing the axe in Teesdale took less than £5 in the past 12 months, it was revealed this week.

Some 178 payphones in the D&S Times area are under threat after BT announced that many of them were no longer commercially viable.

Among those is one at Cassell Bank in Middleton in Teesdale, which Terry Johnson, commercial manager for BT payphones in the North, told a public meeting in the village had made only £4.75 in the past year.

He equated this with the average cost of annual upkeep, which amounted to £1,650 a year, saying they were not allowed to cross-subsidise payphones from other parts of BT. Although rural kiosks were less prone to vandalism, someone had to go along and clean and empty them.

The six-week consultation process was due to draw to a close on Wednesday, but on hearing that Teesdale Council, which is the conduit for responses, planned other public meetings around the dale, Mr Johnson agreed to delay the deadline until October 8.

"We will listen to any arguments put forward for the retention of payphones," he said. "This isn't the sort of consultation where we tell you they're being removed and that's it.

Teesdale Council chief executive, Charles Anderson, said: "Mr Johnson gave reassurances that it wasn't just a paper exercise, but genuine consultation. Just because 31 Teesdale boxes are on the list does not mean 31 will be removed."

The council held a further meeting in Barnard Castle on Wednesday. Others are planned for Gainford Village Hall on Monday and Evenwood on Wednesday, both starting at 7pm.

When making its formal response, Mr Anderson said the council would concentrate on areas where the phones represented a lifeline, particularly in the more remote parts of the dale where mobile phone reception was patchy if not non-existent.