Man makes 1,700-mile round journey to save rare phone box on Scottish island

A man has travelled from Cornwall to the Isle of Lewis to make 52 calls from a rural telephone box in order to keep it in service.

William Arnold, who works as an artist and photographer, took the 1700-mile (2,735km) round trip to visit the rare phone box in Einacleit as part of a project to preserve phone lines in rural communities.

Ofcom guidelines state a minimum of 52 calls have to be made from a phone box each year in order for it to remain operational.

"The project is slightly ridiculous and comedic," said William. "But there is also a serious point about how we communicate with each other and how these phone boxes are often vital rural lifelines."

The 43-year-old has been working to save phone boxes since 2022.

"It all started on the Isle of Lewis when I was working on a photographic project and I wanted to call my partner who was staying back at the house to say I was going to be back late," he said.

"My mobile phone battery was nearly dead and I came across this pristine looking phone box that had the old yellow British Telecom branding from the 1980s.

"There was a phone in there and I was really excited because I hadn't used a phone box for years. But when I picked up the receiver, the line was dead and I was so disappointed."

William said he complained to BT but it also sparked an interest in preserving phone lines in more rural communities.

"It's mostly about the line and being able to communicate from these places that really fascinates me.

"We still have really old school technology that is starting to die out, but BT are lumbered with this legal obligation to keep it going, which I think is quite special."

The phone box in Einacleit - or Enaclete - appealed to him as what is believed to be the last remaining connected double-door telephone kiosk in the UK.

It is understood to have been adapted locally to combat the strong winds and weather conditions on the Isle of Lewis, with a single door previously been seen as potentially dangerous.

William said it was difficult to find out which phone boxes were still operational, so he often had to rely on local knowledge.

A local Facebook page helped him work out whether his chosen phone box was connected and accessible.

Before his arrival, the phone box had been repainted - with the doors painted closed - and a sign said "emergency calls only".

But William had about £36 worth of 50p and 20p coins, and managed to make his 52 calls to 52 different people.

"It wasn't just 20 second phone calls, some people phoned me back so I had a few longer conversations," he said.

"It took me just under two hours but the weather was rotten.

"There were 45mph winds which people could hear on the phone and it was hammering it down, so there was about an inch and a half of water at the bottom and my feet were cold by the end."

He phoned people who chipped in to his Crowdfunder for the phone box project, as well as a few others to make up the numbers.

"It is really fun to go into a phone box on the chance you get someone phoning up who you have never met," he said. "But for isolated places where there is no signal, you can call out if there is an emergency.

"This winter in Cornwall we had 100mph winds, which knocked out the power and water to several towns and villages for several days.

"Some of the villages had no normal mobile phone coverage, so having no internet as well meant the phone box was the only way of contacting the outside the world."

Last year BT reviewed 47 phone boxes in the Western Isles, with 42 eventually marked for removal.

A spokesperson said about 9,000 public payphones remain operational in the UK - down from about 20,000 two years ago.

"Maintaining and operating a large estate of payphones costs millions of pounds each year, an obstacle that prevents more investment in full fibre broadband and mobile networks – which our customers tell us they want," the spokesperson said.

But William believes it is important to keep some phone boxes in working order for public safety.

He said there have been various appeals to give phone boxes a listed status.

But for now, he hopes he can persuade local people to make the 52 calls required to keep the phone box in service themselves.