§ 10. Mr. Sorensenasked the Postmaster-General what further consideration he has given to the possibility of attaching de vices in telephone kiosks that will give audible warnings when telephone apparatus is being or has been wilfully damaged.
§ Mr. BevinsExperiments have not so far produced any useful results, but work is still in progress and I will write to the hon. Gentleman as progress is made.
§ Mr. SorensenWhile thanking the right hon. Gentleman for that reply, may I ask whether he is aware that some time ago an assurance was given that this was being investigated? Could he say whether the Department is on the right track in connection with these suggested devices?
§ Mr. BevinsFollowing upon an earlier Question by the hon. Member, I set a study group to work on this problem and some alarms were tried out in the East End of London in co-operation with the Metropolitan Police. Although these alarms were connected for a whole week to a number of kiosks which had previously suffered frequent damage, no incident whatever occurred during that week. We are now trying to introduce a device—not an alarm—to make damage more difficult in certain areas of London, and I hope that it will prove more effective.