Tories told to stop advertising mayoral candidate on filthy BT phone kiosks

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Tories told to stop advertising mayoral candidate on filthy BT phone kiosks

By Westminster Labour ⋅ April 23, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Over 20% of Westminster’s BT phone kiosks are filthy, yet the Conservative Mayoral candidate uses them for advertising.

Over 20% of Westminster’s BT kiosks are in a filthy condition since BT stopped cleaning its telephone kiosks in Westminster and Labour Councillors have called on the Conservatives to end their ‘legalised graffiti’ by stopping advertising on BT kiosks to promote their Mayoral candidate.

According to a recent report to Westminster Councillors:

“Of the 315 BT kiosks surveyed, 68 were given an overall standard of below three out of five for overall cleanliness (21.5% of those surveyed) indicating they had a standard of cleanliness that was below an acceptable level. 36 were found to contain human waste. 4 had evidence of drug use. 18 were found with broken windows. 177 (56%) had prostitute cards on display.

As part of the survey the Wardens were asked to report if the phone was working. Of those BT kiosks surveyed 31 were found to be defective (10%) but it is thought that this figure is actually higher as no calls were made to test full functionality.

17 of the BT kiosks were found to have doors that didn’t open- either because they were defective or locked.”

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said;

“The state of BT’s phone kiosks in Westminster is a disgrace, with many in a filthy condition. Yet, the Conservative Mayoral candidate is happy to use BT kiosks as advertising hoardings. We have long suspected that BT is more interested in the advertising revenue it gets from phone kiosks rather than in providing a phone service to Westminster’s residents and visitors. These BT kiosks are now little more than a vehicle for ‘legalised graffiti’ which scar the urban environment. The Conservatives should remove their advertising from these kiosks at once and BT should start cleaning its phone kiosks without further delay.”

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