A TRADITIONAL red phonebox has been removed from the centre of Haddington after it was used just once in a year.

The phonebox, outside the police station on Court Street, was removed by BT last Tuesday.

A notice was posted inside the phonebox in January last year and, after no objections or attempts from members of the public to adopt the phonebox, it was removed.

A spokesman for BT said: “BT is committed to providing a public payphone service, but with usage declining by over 90 per cent in the last decade, we’ve continued to review and remove payphones which are no longer needed.

“Any removal of payphones is carried out in strict adherence to the Ofcom guidelines.

“Only one call was made from this payphone in past 12 months.

“No objections were made about the removal of this payphone following the posting of a notice inside the kiosk in January 2017.

“We’ll continue to maintain four payphones within 400 metres of the payphone on Court Street, Haddington.

“As an alternative to removal, we will continue to actively promote our Adopt a Kiosk scheme.”

The scheme allows members of the public to buy a phonebox for just £1.

It can then be changed into many different uses, including libraries and coffee shops, while one in Devon became a small nightclub.