RESIDENTS are fighting against the closure of payphone kiosks in East Cleveland.

BT is proposing to close 12 phone boxes in the Redcar and Cleveland area and dozens more across Teesside as part of a nationwide programme.

The company said it will make sure there is a phone box within half a kilometre of any which are closed.

But residents remain unhappy because they say some people, especially the elderly, do not own mobile phones and the payphones can be crucial in an emergency.

Joan Guy, chairman of Saltburn, Marske and New Marske Parish Council, said: "I appreciate that a lot of people have mobile phones, but what about the people who don't? We should be supporting the have-nots in society.

"BT says it is making sure there is a payphone nearby, but what they think is nearby is not nearby in my mind. Somebody is dead in the time it would take to walk half a kilometre to a phone.

"The parish council will certainly be writing to BT to object. If nothing can be done with the company, I think the public purse should be opened."

BT said the phones have to pay for themselves because they cannot be subsidised.

Company spokesman Les King said: "Thirteen thousand phone boxes have already been removed nationwide. There has been a reduction in the use of payphones of 50 per cent in the last three years, probably because of the ownership of mobile phones."

He was unable to indicate what constituted low usage of a payphone because he said the information was commercially sensitive.

The company is writing to planning authorities, including all councils in the areas concerned. Notices will be put up in affected phone boxes. People then have 42 days to send any objections by letter to their local council.

These will be forwarded to BT, which said kiosks will not be removed until objections have been resolved - although this will depend on individual circumstances.