Give us back our phone box '“ or face court

The telecoms giant mistakenly ripped out the structure from the concourse of the town's railway station.

BT could now be taken to court because of the error.

The model K6 phone box had stood on the back wall of the concourse for decades '“ until BT's blunder.

The Edwardian station became a grade two listed building in 1990 because the government considered the station was sufficiently important to Bognor's history to warrant the status.

The presence of the phone box played an important part in earning that listing at a time when the station was being threatened with demolition by the then British Rail.

Only a few buildings of that era in the town have stayed intact.

Red phone boxes are also extremely rare throughout the area. The nearest one is outside Felpham post office in Felpham Road.

Arun District Council's conservation and design manager Brian Banister said: "The phone box is part of the listing. It is specifically mentioned in the listing description. It has got to go back."

Failure by BT to restore the kiosk will leave the company open to prosecution by the council.

Mr Banister said the council's compliance unit would look into the matter if no satisfactory answer about restoration was received from BT. Any decision about whether to go to court would then be made by councillors.

The phone box's absence was noticed by Bognor Regis Town Council leader Cllr Greg Burt when he visited the station late last month.

"It was the only red telephone box left in the town. It was all part of what makes the railway station special '“ it added to the ambience of the building," he said.

"The reason the town lacks character is everything seems to get taken away and nothing is put back."

The phone box's demise is believed to stem from a decision by BT to install a modern wall-mounted phone on the back concourse wall. The workings of the red box were taken out a while ago to leave it standing for ornamental purposes only.

A BT spokeswoman said the company was urgently trying to find out the details about the phone box's removal.

"This is case is currently being looked into by our payphones team. We are liaising with the council," she said.