HC Deb 21 December 1937 vol 330 c1751
9. Mr. R. Gibson

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland for what purposes an emergency call may properly be passed by a member of the public at a police box in an area where there are no telephone kiosks in existence; and, in particular, if a member of the public is entitled in such an area to pass a call for medical assistance in a case of urgency where the medical practitioner is resident a considerable distance from the police box and the area in question, as is the fact in the case of the Gibbshill area in Greenock?

Mr. Elliot

The public are entitled to use a police box or police telephone pillar in any area whether provided with Post Office call-boxes or not on occasions of emergency when requiring police assistance, the fire brigade, an ambulance, etc. As regards the second part of the question, I am informed that, pending the provision of a Post Office telephone kiosk in the Gibbshill area of Greenock, the Chief Constable has arranged that, so far as reasonably possible, urgent calls for medical assistance which would not in ordinary course be made from police boxes or telephone pillars will, if made through such boxes or pillars, be passed on by the police to the practitioner or other person named by the caller.