HEREFORDSHIRE'S stock of BT telephone boxes was further depleted last week, when one of the few remaining boxes in Bromyard was removed by workmen.

A BT spokesman said that the telephone box, situated on the B4203 in front of the Bromyard Leisure Centre had recently suffered being hit by vehicles on two separate occasions, with the most recent collision taking place in November.

A survey carried out by BT following the most recent accident found the telephone box to be "leaning dangerously", and listed it for urgent removal.

BT, which had 92,000 telephone boxes across Britain at their peak in 1992, has been steadily reducing the number of boxes across the country since the rise of the mobile phone and could not confirm that the telephone box would be replaced.