§ 81. Mr. Atkinsasked the Postmaster-General (1) how many free cab-rank telephones there are in the Metropolitan Police area; how many he has withdrawn in the last 12 months; how many he proposes to withdraw in the future; and 455W what is the annual cost to his Department of maintaining such a telephone;
(2) whether he has a record of the number of incoming calls per annum made to each free cab-rank telephone that has been, or will be, withdrawn; how much income will be lost to his Department when these calls can no longer be made; and in what percentage of cases this lost revenue will be less than the cost of maintaining the telephone.
§ Mr. BennThere are 73 free cab-rank telephones in the Metropolitan Police area; six have been withdrawn in the last 12 months and eight are in course of being withdrawn. Eventually all will be withdrawn, as there is no reason why the Post Office should subsidise the cab trade.
The average cost of maintaining each telephone is about £18 a year. We do not know the income which might be lost by withdrawing them, but, since local calls do not yield a profit to the Post Office these telephones must be unprofitable.