THE HIGHEST phone box in the UK has been saved, after it was threatened with closure by supplier BT.
Campaigners had been fighting to save the traditional red phone box up Cairngorm in the Highlands.
The box, which is more than 2,000 ft up the mountain, is an iconic sight, familiar to skiers and hikers arriving at the nearby base station.
However campaigners said that the booth provided a vital service, and was necessary to keep running on safety grounds.
Aviemore and Vicinity Community Council formally objected to the closure saying that it should be available for 999 emergency calls.
Natural Retreats, which operates the CairnGorm Mountain resort, and Mountaineering Scotland had also backed keeping the public payphone, which was described as a "lifeline".
BT has now confirmed that it will keep the booth running.
A BT spokesman said: "We listen carefully to any community concerns and have already, for example, removed from the consultation the payphone at the ski-slope in the Cairngorms.
"Where concerns are raised to us through the local planning authority, we will not remove the payphone."
The potential closure is part of wider plans by the telecomms firm to cut the number of phone booths across the UK by a third.
It said their usage has declined by more than 90 per cent in the last 10 years, and the company was reviewing and removing those that are no longer needed.
There are nearly 4,800 Payphones across Scotland and BT is in the process of consulting on the removal of around 1,500 of them
The cuts would leave just 3,300 operational phone boxes north of the Border - fewer than half of the 6,962 tally of 2003.
The spokesman for BT added: "Any removal of payphones is carried out in strict adherence to the Ofcom guidelines and, where appropriate, with the consent of local authorities.
"As an alternative to removal, we will continue to actively promote our Adopt a Kiosk scheme to all councils whilst being committed to maintaining the payphones that remain."
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