Rare Carron-made phone box is kept in Falkirk man’s back garden

The now-scarce K6 products were first built in Falkirk district and then distributed to other parts of the UK in 1927.

Some can still be seen dotted around, yet many have fallen into disrepair.

One phone box which doesn’t fall into that category is the one in Eric Liddle’s garden.

The Campfield Street resident is one of the few people who can claim to have their very own phone box after he paid an engineering firm for a disused model ten years ago and gave it a revamp.

Eric contacted The Falkirk Herald after learning of a campaign being run by Falkirk Made Friends (FMF) aimed at “saving” the region’s phone boxes and celebrating its links to engineering and industry.

Explaining how he managed to land his own phone box, he said: “I worked with BT as an engineer for 37 years and ten years ago I did some work at Machan Engineering in Denny.

“They used to take the K6s off BT and refurbish them and they would get sent out in the 1980s.

“I spoke to them about a couple of boxes lying about.

“One had a tree growing out it so I bought it and got it lifted out and sandblasted back to its original case.

“They’re very scarce nowadays. You can buy them on the internet but you need £2000 or £3000.”
Outlining the purpose of the FMF campaign, chairman Robert Bissett said: “We are trying to save as many of these iconic phone boxes as possible across Falkirk district.

“The council has now adopted them — FMF is not a charity yet so we could not adopt them — and then we will take them over and refurbish them with the help of perhaps the college and community groups and put displays inside.”

Search for ‘Falkirk Made Friends’ on Facebook for further information.