BT is being called to account over the axing of hundreds of pay phones across the region.

The phone company has been reducing the number of kiosks in the North-East and North Yorkshire in a bid to cover its costs as more people turn to mobile phones to make calls.

But The Northern Echo has learnt that there is no requirement for BT to widely advertise such closures.

And despite having to notify local planning authorities of a proposed closure, many councils are failing to respond, leaving the company free to get rid of the kiosks.

The Northern Echo understands that more than 100 pay phones are currently under threat across a number of council areas in the region and many more may go.

In the largely rural areas of Wear Valley, County Durham, and Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, 30 are due to close.

BT has already shut down 12,000 phone boxes nationwide in a review lasting 18 months, and hundreds are thought to have disappeared in the North-East, although precise figures are not available.

Critics said that although many people own mobile phones many, particularly the elderly, do not, and they can be crucial an emergency.

Darlington councillor Heather Scott, whose ward has seen a number of phones disappear, said: "One closure may not be seen as important, but when you are talking about closing a lot of kiosks across a town, that is much more of an issue.

"People must be consulted properly and these phone boxes should not be closed willy nilly."

BT needs only to place a notice on a phone box asking members of the public to contact their local planning authority within 42 days before the box is taken away.

Pauline Vincent, of BT Pay Phones, said: "We write to local councils and their parish counterparts when we have a proposal to remove a phone.

"If there are objections, we ask them to write to us so we can consider their views.

"Before we reach a decision to close a box, we will have someone walk the adjoining streets and do a site survey.

"We also ensure that a pay phone service still remains in the area, although on a reduced basis."

The spokeswoman said many councils failed to respond to notification that a kiosk was being removed.

She also defended the length of the 42-day consultation period, and said: "We work very closely with the watchdog Oftel and follow their guidelines on matters such as these."

BT said it was unable to subsidise the pay phone service because of competition guidelines and said its review would continue indefinitely.

It has also pledged that phones will not be removed from isolated villages where only one is available.

A spokeswoman for Oftel said: "We do recognise that there is often a social need to have a phone box in a particular area and when that is the case, there is a more stringent process to go through."