East Dean phone box 15 7 2023

This rather shabby phone box, beside the A259 in East Dean, East Sussex, appears, from the top of a passing bus, to be operational. One wonders, given the state of the exterior paintwork, if that will remain the situation for much longer.

20.7.2023 - I have just seen a news item, about four later models of phone boxes being given 'Listed' status. In the article it is reported that the Ofcom regulator has ruled that public phone boxes must be retained in working order, in areas of poor mobile phone connectivity, places where there are above average levels of suicides or 999 emergency calls and use by vulnerable groups making calls to agencies like Childline. This one, deep in a South Downs valley probably falls into the poor connectivity category, but could also need to be there, as the neighbouring bus stops are the nearest, on a frequently served bus route, to Beachy Head, a sadly notorious location for suicides.