BT is threatening to take away a 'crucial' telephone box on the Lizard Peninsula - despite the village having limited mobile phone signal.

A protest group has been formed by residents in Porthallow, where the red coin-operated phone box remains a lifeline.

They are collecting signatures through a petition in the Five Pilchards pub and the telephone box itself, in a bid to persuade BT to retain the facility.

One of the group members, Carry Callister, said: "If there was an accident having a phone box is pretty crucial for us to be able to contact emergency services.

"Mobile signal is patchy and intermittent, and fairly unreliable because of our location.

"BT have a Universal Service Obligation to provide working phones where they are most needed and we feel if there were a need for emergency services, this could cause delays.

"Alongside this, the connection box in the village is full, meaning no further lines can be added. So if you move here, you have to rely on a mobile or the phone box.

"The village also has some holiday lets many of which do not have a land line and coastal walkers may also need to use a public box for reliable communication."

Porthallow is the halfway point of the South West Coast Path and attracts many walkers.

The next closest phone box is in St Keverne, more than two miles away.

The group is hoping as many people as possible will sign the petition before the submission deadline of February 9.

BT said that over the last 12 months only eights had been made from the payphone in Porthallow.

It is one of 64 in the county being considered for removal, with the company currently in consultation with Cornwall Council over this.

A spokesperson for the company said if the council objected to a particular box being removed, then it would stay.

He said: "Most people now have a mobile phone and calls made from our public telephones have fallen by around 90 per cent in the past decade. We consider a number of factors before consulting on the removal of payphones, including whether others are available nearby and usage.

“The need to provide payphones for use in emergency situations is also diminishing all the time, with at least 98 per cent of the UK having either 3G or 4G coverage. This is important because as long as there is network coverage, it’s now possible to call the emergency services, even when there is no credit or no coverage from your own mobile provider.”

However, there remain parts of the village without any network coverage.

Affected communities are being given the chance to adopt the traditional red phone boxes for £1, to convert them for a different use such as a defibrillator site, mini library or local information centre.