ANGRY councillors in East Cleveland are protesting against a decision to remove the only phone-box from a remote moorland village.

The phone-box in Liverton village, near Loftus, has been removed while the village hall is rebuilt.

However, councillors say that British Telecom are planning to remove the phone-box from the village permanently on grounds of low usage, leaving villagers without a vital lifeline.

David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: "This village may well be off the beaten track, but it is still on a busy road.

"I can see that motorists may well need to use the payphone in the event of an accident or breakdown. Not all drivers have mobile phones, and in any case not all mobile phones can get a signal in this particular area."

Councillor Walsh and fellow Loftus ward councillor Eric Jackson, have written a letter to BT asking it to reinstate the phone-box.

Coun Jackson said: "The ability to use a payphone is a vital part of day-to-day life in any community, and it is particularly important for elderly people who may not have a phone installed at home. Taking it out would just isolate people from the outside world."

The councillors have asked BT to reinstall the phone-box in a different part of the village if it cannot be put back in the same place, once the village hall has been rebuilt.

However, a BT spokesman said that the phone-box had been removed because it was on private land, and the landowner had requested it be moved while the village hall works were carried out.

He said: "We have written to Loftus Town Council asking them if they would like the phone-box reinstated, but we have received no reply.

"I cannot see that the phone-box was removed because of low usage. That would be very unusual because BT has an agreement to keep installing payphones around Britain, when many of them don't even cover their own cleaning costs."