'Vital' phone box broken in village with no signal

A "lifeline" phone box in a village with no mobile phone signal has been left damaged, leading to worries about how people might get help in an emergency.

Milldale, on the Staffordshire-Derbyshire border, is a hub for walkers, and its idyllic surroundings means it attracts lots of visitors in the summer.

It is cut-off from modern communication, however, as the area's geography has left it without mobile phone reception, meaning landlines are heavily relied upon.

"They've basically smashed the receiver to smithereens," said local resident Becky Garner, speaking about the vandalism.

"Because we live in such a little hamlet, and there's no phone signal here, because the hills block it out, it really is a lifeline," she said.

The incident was thought to have happened over the bank holiday weekend.

Garner, who owns a seasonal cafe in the village, said the phone box was invaluable in an emergency.

"I can be here if anything happens, but as soon as I finish - which is the end of October - there is sort of no one here," she said.

"A lot of the houses now are holiday lets so it is very, very quiet in the winter and there's only a few residents.

"If you did have an emergency, something happened and you'd walked here, you wouldn't be able to contact anyone."

She said it was "a little bit scary" and that people often did not realise how cut-off the village was.

"It's just very, very sad, that somebody would do that," Garner added.

"It seems to me like they've got in a temper and smashed the hand receiver."

It was hoped a repair would be made soon. The BBC has contacted BT, which owns the telephone box, for a comment.

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