Have you ever used a payphone in a phone box?

Posted by Tiny-Height1967@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 545 comments

I saw some tourists photographing one another by a red phone box earlier and it made me wonder at what point will we cross from, "most people have used a phone in a phone box" to, "most people have never used a phone in a phone box". I asked my partner (young millennial) and she could not recall using one, and I think the last time I used one must have been in the late nineties. At some point in the future there will be a last person ever to use a payphone, and I wondered if they would know about it.

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Fresh_Corner6374@reddit

Legit used one last week when my phone died in town and had to let a friend know I was running late lol, they're still a good thing to have around, in the UK they should be made free to use like they are in Australia instead of being torn down. :)

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TrashPandaPoo@reddit

About 3 decades ago. Now I just take photos of red ones like a tourist.

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FindingHerStrength@reddit

Ha same 😂

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wintonian1@reddit

Do they still cost 10p? Seriously though the last time was to call the bank to unfreeze my card as I'd left my phone at home.

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Happylittlecultist@reddit

Hasn't been 10p for over 20 years

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Happylittlecultist@reddit

Probably not for about 11 years. About 16 years ago I did use one to call an ambulance for someone to. I had made use of them between those times. Probably early '00s was my peak phone box use The drug addicts seem to make use of them.

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I_am_Relic@reddit

Yup! Er ... In the 70 and 80s (possibly the 90s too, but im too old to have clear memories of waaay back then)

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V65Pilot@reddit

My kids once asked me how they worked.....

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Mountain_Strategy342@reddit

Absolutely. But not in 2 decades

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dinobug77@reddit

Or more. I probably did nearly 30 years ago! I got my first mobile in 1997 so definitely not since then.

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Wind-and-Waystones@reddit

After a certain point they just became the way you rang the house phone to let people know your mobile was dead/out of credit

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Technical_Ball_8095@reddit

You could do a reverse charge call and leave your name as callmeback so the person on the other end knew to hit 14713 to redial

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blackleydynamo@reddit

BT Chargecard reporting in. Those things were a lifesaver. Haven't used a payphone in I don't know how long; got my first mobile in 96? So round then, probably. But I used to use them a lot; my uni accommodation had them so that's how I called home. Ah the good old days, when drunken shenanigans were not filmed by all your mates and put on social media...

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Paperboy63@reddit

Damn, back in the 90’s I worked for BG as an emergency engineer. If the radio system was down, we had to use phone boxes to contact “controI”, I used a BT chargecard for a while, still remember the card number now. That we had to punch in if it didn’t swipe.

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Onetap1@reddit

I only use the house phone to find my mobile now.

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DPhillip126@reddit

Same! Not since the 90s

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Penguin_Butter@reddit

Only came here to say that 😂

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MintyMarlfox@reddit

Same, but the 90s was only a decade ago, right?!

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Serberou5@reddit

I was traumatised to discover The Matrix came out in 1999. God I'm old.

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bitofafixerupper@reddit

I don't want to upset you, but I'm a 96 baby and I'm 30 next year. But 2005 was only 10 years ago so don't worry.

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Happy_fairy89@reddit

2005 was the year I left senior school. It was the year I started smoking, which I’ve now quit. It was also the year my nan died when she was only 50, younger than my mother is now. It’s a year that is rather haunting for me but it’s also etched in my memory for all the wrong reasons. Was a good summer though.

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Penguin_Butter@reddit

Exactly

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TheCarrot007@reddit

Same but 1995.

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Geek_reformed@reddit

I am in my 40s. I remember using them, but I've likely not had to since 1999 when I got my first mobile.

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jimbobsqrpants@reddit

I was going to say the exact same thing. But a year earlier in 98.

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Informal-Tour-8201@reddit

They took our red phone box away, but the one near our local shop still exists.

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izzitme101@reddit

Way back when they first put in touchtone phones into the boxes, I used to dial british Airways freephone number, after 6pm, let it run through the message, then dial 9 for an outside line!

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zzkj@reddit

There was also a tone sequence you could play that would activate some kind of engineer mode that would let you dial anywhere for free. You could buy the tone boxes from classified ads in the evening paper!

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Technical_Ball_8095@reddit

Phreaky

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JohnnySchoolman@reddit

You used to be able to play the beeps down the line with your Sony Walkman.

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Impressive-Chart-483@reddit

You could also just kick the machine after your call, and get your money back. I moved to the States for a bit as a teen, and my mates used to do it to call me for hours from the local phone box for free.

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woodsmanoutside@reddit

I'm going out to play. Have you got 10p? Yeah

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Cold_Table8497@reddit

It used to be 2p or a 10p. A slot for each.

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tartanthing@reddit

2p & 5p and you had to press button A or button B.

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fluidmind23@reddit

;)

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ChelseaGem@reddit

I remember it being a slot for 5p and a slot for 10p. In the late ‘70s.

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hedgehogketchup@reddit

Yeah. ‘Mum, Can you pick me Up?’, ‘where are you, you said you’d come’… ah: memories.

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FantasticWeasel@reddit

Same, all the time back in the day. Especially phoning home once a week from uni.

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Tuarangi@reddit

Same, I went travelling after university and used one around 2004 when I got back to tell my parents I was safely landed as I didn't have my phone or SIM as it was back when even EU roaming was bad

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undulating-beans@reddit

I used to go to boarding school (I’m autistic so it was more ‘special’ school) it was around the time that phone boxes were switching to multi coin types not just the 2p 5p denominations that they used to take. I had to phone the school to come and collect me from the train station. I excitedly told the housemaster that you ring abroad from this phone box. He said ‘oh, great, ring one for me too’ I didn’t get the joke for a very long time!

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Twacey84@reddit

I have. I don’t recall the last time I used one but it would have been around 2000-2002. I got my first mobile phone when I was 16 in 2000 but I think I still used a pay phone a few times after that when my phone was out of credit or I needed to make a call that would have been too expensive on my mobile. Early mobiles were quite expensive to use

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Zorolord@reddit

A few times, I even remember missing using one as a tween.

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r33c31991@reddit

1999 for me

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jayson4twenty@reddit

I remember when 0800 REVERSE was a thing. And I used to use that on phone boxes to ring my dad. You had a couple seconds to leave your name and it would call the other person saying they have a reverse charge call from 'name you said'. Instead of saying your name you could leave a little message. I used to ask him to call the phone box or my phone. Or just leave a message lol. Good times.

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Response_Proper@reddit

Last time was probably in 2000 to call the herb fairy…

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TopAngle7630@reddit

Yes, but I'm in my 50s.

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RealLongwayround@reddit

Not since the evening of 26th June 1998. I’d just finished my PGCE. My cohort were out on the town, celebrating the end of our studies, and it was the night of the England-Columbia match at the World Cup. My wife was coming on the bus to meet us at the pub. I had arranged to meet her at the bus station. The helpful bus driver dropped her off at the pub. I was at the bus station. She wasn’t there, so I asked the bus driver, who told me what had happened. I went to the pub. My wife wasn’t there because she’d bumped into some of my friends who told me I’d gone to meet her at the bus station. I went to the bus station. My wife wasn’t there because the bus driver had told her that he’d told me that he’d dropped her off at the pub. At this point, I used the phone box. My wife and I shared a pager. The pager was, pretty much routinely, useless. This turned out to be the one and only time I succeeded in getting a message to the pager, since it didn’t work indoors.

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TripleSlip@reddit

Don't leave us hanging like this. What did the pager message say? Was the bus driver involved any more? How did the evening go?

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RealLongwayround@reddit

The evening went great. We beat Columbia 2-0.

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Unfair-Equipment6@reddit

And then you bought mobile phones??

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RealLongwayround@reddit

We bought one. Couldn’t afford one each.

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Unfair-Equipment6@reddit

😂😂😂

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Sharktistic@reddit

Just think, if she hadn't picked the pager up before leaving the house, you would still be looking for, and constantly *just* missing, each other.

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RealLongwayround@reddit

Stuck orbiting Ormskirk to the end of our days!

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BigBlueMountainStar@reddit

Like ships in the night

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name-already-taken5@reddit

This deserves more upvotes, for both the precision of recollection and the calamity recalled. Bravo.

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RealLongwayround@reddit

I forgot to add: this was also the day before I bought a mobile phone. We bought a Cellnet phone to share. £20 a month. No free minutes or texts. Data wasn’t a thing.

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Hazehill@reddit

The only time I've ever used a pager service was to get a shout out on a pirate radio station.

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exp_cj@reddit

Pager??? What kind of new fangled nonsense is that? It’s fine to arrange to meet someone a few days before and turn up and wait for an hour or so and maybe they don’t show up. It happens, you might see them next week.

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2xtc@reddit

I had this a couple of times with an ex, but we were chasing shadows between the pub and the train station. Ultimately we agreed in future whoever was in the pub first would stay there and buy rounds as normal until the other one showed up, any excess drinks on the table had to be necked as a suitable punishment for getting lost!

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dreadwitch@reddit

They were the only phones to use when I was a kid. We didn't have a house phone until I was 13 but I couldn't use it to make calls. Then I was very late to the mobile party, I used phone boxes until they disappeared.

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No_Memory1601@reddit

Oh yes. Put in 4d, when they answer, push button A. No answer, push button B and get your 4d back. Pre decimalisation call box telephones.

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RubyKitsune@reddit

Pretty sure the last I used one was in the early 2000's. You always just went to a phone box and called your parents on reverse charge "mum call my phone please!" That way I could waste all my phone credit on text bundles - vodaphone weekends, anyone?

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glytxh@reddit

There were a handful left in my town till a few years ago. I shit you not, walking home at 3am one morning. A little drunk. I near a phone box and it starts fucking ringing. Literally as I’m approaching it sort of thing. Pick it up, no answer. I’ve been thinking about this for like five years. All the boxes are gone now, and I’ve almost gaslit myself into convincing myself it never actually happened.

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Holiday-Woodpecker47@reddit

1999, Nuremberg Germany after discovering I'd lost my bloody mobile!

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fussyfella@reddit

I am old and when I was at university, the only way to phone home was from phone boxes smelling of piss. The positive side, was that I decided if/when to call and there was no way my parents could contact me every minute of the day. I miss the days when there was no expectation of being always reachable 24/7. As an early adopter of mobile phones (in the 80s) I think the last time I used a payphone was likely in the 90s (mobile coverage was not universal and sometimes it was necessary).

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kinellm8@reddit

I remember my first weekend at uni, going to the local phone box to call my mum and the queue was round the corner 🤣 Kids today have no idea how lucky they are ;)

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exp_cj@reddit

And half of them were just queuing up to wank off to the sexy flyers.

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Typical_Ad_210@reddit

Omg, how did I forget about the fliers and business cards! They used to amuse me no end as a kid 🤣 My mother would be shouting in Greek at the top of her voice (she was not well-liked in our quaint English village, lol) to tell us kids to close our eyes when passing the phone box in the square and not look at the filth. Which of course made us all the more determined to look, lol.

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BigBlueMountainStar@reddit

I sense a bit of projection going on here…

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kinellm8@reddit

It’s why I was there tbf

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Gullible_Mode_1141@reddit

I would disagree. They will never know the magic of Dial.a.disk..

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Automatic-Plan-9087@reddit

Ahh, dial a disk, the first technology driven dating site. There was a gap between the announcement of the track and the music starting, where you could shout your own number. Then another listener would call you back. Met many a girlfriend that way😁🤣

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breakbeatx@reddit

Yep I ended up not speaking to my family for first 2 weeks of uni because the queue for the bank of phone boxes was always down the street with people waiting up to 2 hours

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_cprizzle@reddit

Used to have a pay phone at school that we had to use if we needed to call home.

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StNeotsCitizen@reddit

So did we, for a bit, but then when a few of us found out the engineer over-ride code and spent hundreds on non-local calls, it was swiftly removed

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Laescha@reddit

Yeah. I'm pretty sure I did use a phone box once or twice as a kid, but I have many more memories of using the school pay phone to call my mum.

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LillyAtts@reddit

Yes, because I'm in my 40s.

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pinkisms@reddit

Reverse calling my mum but instead of saying my name I'd say 'ImstayingatVickysforteabecauseSarahisgroundedwillbehomeby8' then wait at the phone box for a minute in case she phoned back

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StuartHunt@reddit

Growing up in the 70s and 80s we didn't even have a house phone, so the phone box was our landline, I'd arrange with my posh gf to ring me at a certain time and I'd be waiting in the phone box for the call.

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Major_Bag_8720@reddit

Yes, but not for about 25 years or so.

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Pristine_Noise_8239@reddit

Did UK phone boxes have that unique aroma of old cigarettes, urine, and a funky rubbery smell?

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UmmmItsRhi@reddit

I’m 28 and have never. My parents used them all the time when they were my age but since mobiles were invented, no one needs them

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Electrical-Half-8643@reddit

As a kid yes. I think the last time was in Tenerife. They are all defibs or mini libraries now.

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_franciis@reddit

I remember calling home from scout camp in a phone box and I’m almost as young as a millennial can be I think. Haven’t used one for at least 20 years or more.

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Sburns85@reddit

About 15 years ago. And was purely because my phone was dead and needed to phone home for a lift

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IdentifiesAsGreenPud@reddit

I grew up in the 70s. Rotary home phones and constant change in pocket for phone booth was a normal thing .... Man I am old.

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

Same! 2p for local calls and 10p for long distance. We loved the dream 🤣

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FindingHerStrength@reddit

It was 10p for us lot. And I remember lads used to try pull the girls by saying “here’s 10 pence, phone ya Ma to tell her ya not coming home tonight”… Slick. Real slick! 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

🤣

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TwinkletheStar@reddit

OMG I forgot it used to be that cheap for local calls. It was so long ago it feels like a different lifetime!

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

And cheap rate after 6pm n all weekends - seems bloody unreal now!!

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

It does, I agree 🤣

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knotsazz@reddit

I absolutely did use payphones when I was a kid. Maybe even a handful of times after I got a mobile phone when I ran out of credit. It was never a frequent thing, more like if I needed to call home and say I was going to be late or if I’d gotten stuck and needed a lift. I don’t think I ever called anyone except my parents from them.

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Eisenmaus@reddit

I haven't used one since around 1995. The phone boxes always smelt of pee. But as a child without a mobile (who had to memorise phone numbers) - they were useful for letting your parents know that you were on the way home.

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eyeball2005@reddit

I’m 19 and no. There used to be one down my road but once mobile phones got popular kids just vandalised it to the point it’s just empty now

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SpudGun312@reddit

Loads of times. Used to call the operator and get reverse charges to speak to my mum. She was always angry. My mum, not the operator.

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HaBumHug@reddit

Me too! And then at some point it changed so it was a prerecorded operator and you’d like record your name for the operator to repeat so I’d just say “mum it’s me need picking up usual spot” really quickly then she’d reject the call.

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Possiblyreef@reddit

This was how I got home from youth club every week. Only way I could let her know when i wanted picking up

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FindingHerStrength@reddit

Ha yes!! I remember this

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snapjokersmainframe@reddit

Bet she always accepted the charges though, right?

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shadowed_siren@reddit

Or instead of your name you said where you are as fast as you could so mum could pick you up.

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TwinkletheStar@reddit

I bet the operator would be angry then 😆

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chartupdate@reddit

At university in the early 90s it was the nightly ritual to queue for the payphones to call home. Kids these days...

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wibble089@reddit

Nightly? Really, my parents were lucky if I called more than once a week; I wasn't made of money you know!

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chartupdate@reddit

Lol, poorly phrased on my part. I'd go weeks without speaking to home. But every single night people were queueing at the banks of payphones.

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Signal-Ad2674@reddit

BT Busness operate and maintain the pay phones for the UK. They have obligation in certain undertakings to retain phone boxes where mobile signal is limited, or areas of high poverty and / or areas of risk (eg coastlines and known suicide spots). The phones are moving to Internet technology. They will eventually have mobile sim connectivity retrofitted to the roof of the booth. Alternately, some will move to the pre-digital phone line connectivity. To the untrained eye, the box will look the same. The most photographed (and highly maintained) phone boxes are the 16 scattered across Whitehall. An absolute tourist host spot. No other provider in the UK has obligation to provide pay phone infrastructure.

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tartanthing@reddit

They don't do a very good job of maintaining them around my locale. You'd hardly know they were phone boxes as they are fully wrapped in adverts. Most have moss or lichen growing on them and personally I wouldn't put a handset anywhere near my face for fear of picking up a communicable disease.

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Signal-Ad2674@reddit

They will be on a schedule. If you phone 150 from a BT line and report location they will be addressed earlier. Your call of course, but they are responsive. Did one in our village when vandalised not long ago.

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

And can you now make free inland calls on them? Sure I read something about it 🤔

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Signal-Ad2674@reddit

On the pay phones replaced with digital advertising screens, the services smart city environmental monitoring, free 1gb internet over localised WiFi, usb charging and free uk land line access. These are called LinkUK terminals.

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turdor@reddit

this just explained why the payphones along the thames still work..

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probablyaythrowaway@reddit

I ever using 0800 reverse to call my mum to pick me up when I had ran out of minutes

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LibertyIAB@reddit

Only a young person would ask a stupid question like that....

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Southern_Passage_332@reddit

The last time circa 2002, 2003

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bobcat_bedders@reddit

Used to use them for the 0800 reverse charge line when your credit had run out or your phone was dead to cram 'mumitsmeringmeback' into the 'say your name' gap of the call 😅

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ComprehensiveAd8815@reddit

Not since I got my mobile phone in 1996!…. Same number nearly 30 years later!

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Tiny-Height1967@reddit (OP)

Wow that is an impressive feat, it must only have 8 digits😜

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Luke_Nukem_2D@reddit

This thread brings back memories. When I first started dating, and still lived at the family home, we only had one landline phone in the house. It was in the living room, and didn't have a detachable handset, so I would have to walk to the nearest payphone to have a private conversation with my girlfriend. I'd buy phone cards for this purpose, but often she would have to ring the payphone back when I ran out of credit. I can remember some payphones had a coinbox underneath the phone unit. You could use a bottle jack between the two to separate the coinbox from the wall and steal the money. Apparently 😉.

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Lucy_Little_Spoon@reddit

I last used one about 15 years ago :D

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Thaddeus_Valentine@reddit

Yes but not since early 2000s.

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Dedward5@reddit

Yes, and I had a “phone card” too.

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Tiny-Height1967@reddit (OP)

Oh wow I had absolutely forgotten the existence of phone cards; thank you for bringing that back to me!

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JoeyJoeC@reddit

I used to go into everyone to check for change as a kid. Often found 20p left in them.

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thethirdbar@reddit

I'm 36 and definitely used them when I was little. My grandparents had a caravan in Cumbria that they used to take us to in school hols and there was a payphone by the entrance to the site so we used to make the trip every evening to call mum and dad and tell them how our holidays were going. I don't recall ever using one in my day to day life, but I did spend a lot of time playing pretend calls on the one on our street. The buttons were very tactile in a payphone.

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Tiny-Height1967@reddit (OP)

>The buttons were very tactile in a payphone. Yes I think this is the thing that I remember the most. When my partner said she'd never used one I think you have unlocked the thing I was specifically remembering: It's not the act of standing in a phonebox, putting 10p in the slot and making a call, it's that she will not (and will never) know what those buttons feel like. Maybe we need to go on a mission to our local phonebox; she doesn't know what she's missing!

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tenaciousofme@reddit

UK. Last used one in the 90s. It was 10p per call for 60 seconds (to a landline), with 10p top ups. To be fair, I think the last one I used 0800REVERSE, but again easy 20+ years since used one. Now i think people would ask a stranger or shop to use their phone over a payphone. There's 3 left in my town but are phasing out in full soon

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Forever_a_Kumquat@reddit

A lot of people will never have used a landline either. I haven't had one for years, I imagine a lot of people in their 20s now probably won't have one. I'm old enough to remember spinning the dial round.

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

My kids have never had a phone in the house, I even took the sockets off the wall as they got in the way of furniture. Even mobiles, they rarely actually *talk* on them which may be the next thing, so much is done by message (the classic "can you come and pick me up") and chats with family are more likely over video. I think this is why so many people hold phones out at an angle, they just have never used one with an earpiece.

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CountNo7955@reddit

I have a landline, but only because it doesn't cost any extra on my internet package. I never use it but I guess it might come in handy if I ever lose my mobile. When I was a kid in the 80s, not everyone had a phone. Neither of our neighbours did. They usually used the phone box, but occasionally in an emergancy they'd use ours and leave 10p on the side. We'd also occasionally get calls for them - they told their relatives only to call us in emergancies so it was never good news. I wonder how many people know their neighbours well enough to do things like that these days? Last time I used a payphone - probably 1994 when I was at Scout Camp. I think my dad got me a phonecard - remember them?

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FindingHerStrength@reddit

We’ve still got a landline. I’ve recently moved back in with my elderly parents and it took some adjusting to get used to hearing the phone ringing *and* answering it! That bloody phone is constantly ringing, morning noon and night mainly it’s for my Dad. However it doesn’t do my head in… it’s a lovely reminder I’ve got elderly parents who still have friends and they all use their landlines (as well as mobiles). I’ve just had the shocking and devastating thought that when I lose them both, that phone will probs oh never ring again 😳😭

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No_Year178@reddit

Of course I have, I'm 57!!!

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Aggie_Smythe@reddit

We had a phone box more or less outside our house when we moved here in 2004, which I used to arrange my new landline then because there was no mobile signal. It was very useful, but it disappeared sometime around 2015 ish. I used to use it as a landmark when I was giving directions to people coming to the house, then my partner told me it wasn’t there anymore - I hadn’t even noticed it had gone! But 2004 is the last time I remember using a phone box. And actually, that one wasn’t a traditional red one, it was one of the glass ones.

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BlackJackKetchum@reddit

Some time in the mid 90s, I would think. It is another one of those things where you do something for what will be the last time and think nothing of it

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Tiny-Height1967@reddit (OP)

Yes I am strangely envious of those who can remember the time and location of their last use of a payphone! Maybe I will go on a special mission with my partner and she can use one for the first and possibly only time in her life!

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

Yes and that's really scary!

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Choice-Standard-6350@reddit

Yes I did. Last time about 12 or 15 years ago. I rang from the train station to tell my partner my train had got in early. I had run out of charge on phone.

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iamgoin@reddit

I’m early Gen Z and I remember using them to prank call people when I was a kid, but I don’t think I remember using one for a serious call.

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Significant-Yak-2373@reddit

Yes. Had no choice when I was younger.

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Twolef@reddit

Not since you had to go in with a handful of 2ps and there would be people waiting who could hear your conversation. Strange times, they were.

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Smiles_1980@reddit

I used to ring my Dad from one in the mid-90s, absolutely steaming to tell him I was stopping at a mates house after a pub crawl aged 15-16. I'm trying to sound sober when, in reality, I was far too shitted for him to come pick me up and deal with a lecture and wanted to stop out longer and get up to no good

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Many-Proposal4499@reddit

I tried to use one last year when my phone battery drained really fast whilst out shopping and I needed to call a taxi. There was no phone, just box...

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coak3333@reddit

In case of an emergency situation and they cut the mobile communication, the phone booth lines still work.

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HalfAgony-HalfHope@reddit

Yeah, the last time I can recall though, was in 2004. O2 came out with unlimited texts on a pay as you go sim around the same time and I dont think I used one after that.

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ExpectedBehaviour@reddit

Sure. But not since the early 2000s.

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trolliebobs@reddit

Last time I used one was in 1998, aged 17. My girlfriend (now Wife) and I were walking to the bus after the cinema (with drop-down seats!), when we took a shortcut behind a pub. We saw that someone had set fire to the recycling wheelie bin - I went inside the pub to grab a fire extinguisher and tell the staff to ring 999, when the pub owner started screaming at me: *"You're not using *my* fucking fire extinguisher - they cost £200 to refill!"* I ignored the twat, used the extinguisher, but the fire had really got going, spreading to the Jag parked next to the bin. I went back in the pub to get another extinguisher, and asked if they'd called 999. They hadn't (!?) - so I used the payphone outside as my Motorola Memphis battery had died... The firefighters turned up after 8/9 minutes and got things under control. The incident commander had to restrain the pub landlord, who was "demanding with menaces" that I pay him £400 to cover the cost of the extinguishers - it turned out the Jag was his! Absolutely bonkers ending to a date night, but definitely memorable.

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sunmat02@reddit

Probably last time was in 2006 or 2007. After that I got my first cellphone.

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viva__hate@reddit

Last time was probably around 2008 as a young teen, calling 0800 reverse from town asking my parents to pick me up

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Consistent_Feed9309@reddit

I've not even used a landline in 20 years,

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Sideways_Underscore@reddit

Last time was probably 10 years ago. Wish they were still around tbh I lose my phone all the time.

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Illustrious_Study_30@reddit

I remember the chill when a phone box would ring with no one inside it. We'd all get people to call us back on a phone box, but I've been walking along and one has rung and I felt like I was being watched.

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foxhill_matt@reddit

I used to collect Phone Cards

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Illustrious_Study_30@reddit

Everyone in my friend group collected used phone cards to give to a guy with his own business to write phone costs off when he was doing his tax.

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NekoZombieRaw@reddit

Yes? A long time ago.

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RummazKnowsBest@reddit

Yes, around the year 2000 would’ve been the last time. Probably only did it a few times in my life. Actually, I think I rang home while on holiday in about 2007 from a public phone in Greece…

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MahatmaAndhi@reddit

When we were kids, we'd do reverse charges with the operator, but whilst the operator was asking if they'd accept the charges, we'd shout, "pick me up from town" or whatever before hanging up. I don't think I've used a public phone this millennium though.

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jamiedix0n@reddit

Me and my friends used to call sexline from the payphones on the way home from school

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n3m0sum@reddit

Yes, but I'm 52 and grew up in a house that didn't have a phone for most of my youth. I probably haven't used one in 20 years.

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lavenderacid@reddit

25 year old and I definitely remember using one once as a VERY small child, then never being able to find a working one again.

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Satchm0Jon3s@reddit

I'm 40... so yes.

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Lavender_sergeant@reddit

Plenty of times. Just a long time ago. I remember searching for a phonebox on more than one occasion

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matscom84@reddit

Call 100, Reverse charges and ask mum for a lift home

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VariedTeen@reddit

I’m 19, yes I’ve used one a couple of times but it’s always a pain as they’re all broken, you have to keep trying different ones. I know one in particular that sort-of functions

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nibor@reddit

quite often before I got my first mobile in 1995. Most memorable moment for me was also one of the last times. I had gone to Wembley Stadium to buy tickets for a very big band around 1992 and the queueus were not that big, I found a telephone box and tried to remember the telephone numbers of people I knew to see if they wanted me to get them tickets. While telephone booths often had physical telephone number directories (yellow books) this one didn't. Its memorable because I actually remembered one of the numbers which i had only called it two or three times in the past and spoke to the person. Not sure if I got them tickets.

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BuncleCar@reddit

I used a bit in the 1950s and 60s. Sometimes you had to queue

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Jerico_Hill@reddit

Used to play in them as kids, e.g. calling Safestyle and screaming "Safestyle, I want your windows!" Down the phone. I once managed to call a video store in Missouri by mashing loads of numbers even though there was no money in the phone.

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adequatepigeon@reddit

Hahaha my friend and I used to prank call businesses from the pay phone in my village, 0800 mashmashmash, see who answers and then ask them odd questions until they realise it's a prank and hang up... and repeat 😆

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LemmysCodPiece@reddit

Loads of times. But not for years and years.

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-_Error@reddit

Used to do reverse charge prank calls from them with my friends.

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bdonldn@reddit

Yes. They used to take 2p coins. I’m old!

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Additional-Map-2808@reddit

When i was naughty young lad straight out of foster care, i use to fold prostitute cards down the money slot and come back later to collect the money. Sorry if i ever inconvenienced anyone..

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secretvictorian@reddit

Lol I was desperate to call work about 10 years ago and my phone had just run out of battery. I saw a payphone, decided to use it and put in a £2 coin. Which promptly ran out 30 seconds later as I was leaving a voicemail. 🤣

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SoggyWotsits@reddit

When I was younger yes, all the time. It was the only way to make a call if you weren’t at home or near a landline!

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nicol_turren@reddit

Until i was I my 40s that was the only option we had if were away from home. I used to call "TIM" everyday on the way home from school, just for fun so the operator had to tell me the time

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DurhamOx@reddit

Why would I phone somebody from a public toilet?

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rayok123@reddit

I've even used an A B payphone in a phone box :-)

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ignatiusjreillyXM@reddit

Last time must have been circa 2005. Used them a fair amount in the 90s I suppose

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syorks73@reddit

Here's 10p, ring your mum, and tell her you've pulled.

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CongealedBeanKingdom@reddit

Yes. I'm in my 40s. I wasn't allowed to use the house phone (yes, I know, it's petty and pathetic) so I'd just go the the phone box with a 10p, phone my mate, who lived in a normal home, and they'd call me back. Did it all the time. Was raging when they went to 20p.

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LordAxalon110@reddit

About a decade ago. Phone had died and manages to write my new girlfriends number on my hand, had to phone her so she wouldn't think I'd stood her up. I was running late because of the buses, so I called her and before you ask. Yes it smelt of piss.

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CountZodiac@reddit

The 90s, probably for a rave.

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Annual_Dimension3043@reddit

All the time but not since about 20 years ago.

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Screaming_lambs@reddit

Around 20 years ago, yes! I do remember going to the phone box with my mum when I was a toddler though. We didn't have a phone in the house (obviously).

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Scarboroughwarning@reddit

1000s of times. Now, they are either libraries or defibrillator locations.

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H16HP01N7@reddit

Yeah, because I'm old. And we didn't all have mobile phones 20 years ago.

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Ashwah@reddit

In the 90s it was where me and my teenage friends would hang about and call each other to find out who was coming out. Sometimes teenagers from a nearby town would call and tell us they were coming to beat us up. On occasion we'd call various freephone numbers and talk nonsense at the poor call handler for fun. Good times!

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en70uk@reddit

Early days of being a rep I had a charge card to use at phone boxes, spent longer typing the number in than talking on phone

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thehoneybadger1223@reddit

I remember being with my mam and her using one to phone my dad to tell him we were walking to the hospital when I broke my arm lol. I've personally never used one. Although when I was younger I used to *always* go to the phone boxes and press the return coin button to get money that people had left without claiming back. Bought a fair few freddos and then some when I was out with my mates

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Upstairs_Sherbet2490@reddit

Last time probably in the early 2000's for me- mid millennial (midlennial)

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tomahawk66mtb@reddit

Yes, because I'm old.

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Not-That_Girl@reddit

The last time I remember using one was in 2000, when I moved into my flat and the phone company read the letter saying I was moving from a to b and shut off my phone in b. So screw them I went with a different company.

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Not-That_Girl@reddit

Oh! But before than, yes, I used phone boxes a lot. And phone cards that more ofter didn't work. (I was an early version of a prepaid card for phones only of course, very temperamental and annoying to lose you 2 quid when you only earn 40 quid a week. Aahh, the 80s

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Not-That_Girl@reddit

And.. I moved out of my parent in '86, moved A LOT got a home phone in 95! And a mobile in 2002.

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GenXer76@reddit

Many times. I remember using one in a red phone box in London to call my mom back in Seattle in 1996.

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baechesbebeachin@reddit

I done a digital detox a few years ago for charity, and I had to use payphones to contact people for a week. It was a total nightmare. Most of them are so disgusting you can't go near. The other half were broken

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FindingHerStrength@reddit

They always were a bit minging… I also remember the smell of a payphone receiver ~ Bad breath! And as kids we used to dare each other to sniff it. 😳

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pogo0004@reddit

The one that stank of piss and the receiver smelled of cigarettes? Where the 5p slot had a match in it so you needed 10p and the top of the phone was all melted from cigarette burns? And the bottom glass was broken and your feet were freezing? No. Not lately.

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True_Scientist1170@reddit

Yes and never caught any of the hep family or plague and most stressful call ever your shouting as much info as u can before the coins run out😅 last time was 2004 😅

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tmstms@reddit

Loads and loads in the past. But then I am in my 60s. Last time I did? Long enough ago I cannot remember.

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mybeatsarebollocks@reddit

Bet you can still remember the strange smell from the bakelight receiver

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FindingHerStrength@reddit

I remember the smell of the receiver ~ Bad breath!!!

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Appropriate_Mud1629@reddit

Growing up in the 70's there was a red phone box on our estate.... It was our job, as young kids playing in the street, to answer the phone when it rang...and deliver the message. So phone would ring...one of us would answer... " Who's that?" "Oh, alright boi...run up and tell our Joan I'm gonna be late home."..."I've got a couple of hours of overtime tell her." We would dutifully run up and pass the message on.... Without mentioning we could hear he was ringing from the pub.. I also remember queuing outside phone boxes, waiting patiently in turn... Everyone In the queue able to hear one side of the conversation taking place in the phonebox.. Ringing a number to listen to the track of the day....so maybe today was 10cc Im not in love...just playing on a loop.. Tomorrow might be Queen 🤣🤣

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FindingHerStrength@reddit

Lovely memories

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FindingHerStrength@reddit

All the time yes, until about 20 years ago!

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Shitelark@reddit

In this millenium? Probably not.

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Sea_Photograph_3998@reddit

Yes. I distinctly remember me and some other kids making prank calls in one, way back in the '90s. It was the girls idea is the funny thing, us lads all just went along with it but she's the one who came up with the idea to make prank calls.

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resting_up@reddit

For people my age the payphone was the mobile phone

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wasteland-ratfunk@reddit

When I was a kid, we didn't have a housephone. So we used to go to the end of the street and my mum would spend a good 20-30 minutes dealing with bills, etc on the phone in the phone box. Sometimes there would be a queue of 2-3 people all doing the same thing. Also going out on the bus with friends my mum would give me 20p so I could phone her from town if there were any issues or I was going to a friend's for dinner etc.

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hypnoticfire69@reddit

Yup mid 40's

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Intruder313@reddit

Not for many years I’d be amazed if they even had phones in them now

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viola-purple@reddit

Yes, in the 90s...

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DukeRedWulf@reddit

Yeah, I used to use red box payphones a lot to call home when I was at Uni.. Then hardly at all, until I was out in Mexico for a while in the '00s when I used them to phone my family.. The very last time I remember using a pay-phone was when I was out in Spain in the early 2010's .. I'd gotten a weird veiled death threat on my UK mobile from a number I didn't recognise.. No way I was responding on my own phone.. So, I bought a ref's whistle and one of those pre-paid "international calling cards" from a local shop, went to a call box, called the number: Them: "Hello?" (voice of some plonker mate-of-a-mate that I kinda knew back in Blighty) Me: \*LOUD WHISTLE\* Them: "Oww!" Me: \*hangs up\* .. XD

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panicattackcity91@reddit

When I was in seniors in the early 00s I’d regularly use a pay phone with the reverse number and tell her to pick me up “0800 r.e.v.e.r.s.e I said 0800 r.e.v.e.r.s.e”

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JimmyHaggis@reddit

I'm old enough to remember using them in the 80s and early 90s, but the smell of stale piss and used condoms combined with the introduction of mobiles means that I'll never take that trip into nostalgia.

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Taiga_Taiga@reddit

I'm 45. Yes... I've used these. I even know the secret of why you sometimes put the handset on the top of the unit, and not back onto the receiver. If you want more proof I'm actually this old... I know that you could call the operator to get a wakeup call... You still can. It's a secret, but useful thing if you're ever away on holiday, and need to make sure you're awake. Also, dial 123, and the speaking clock will tell you the time. Fuck. I'm old.

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tobotic@reddit

Probably not since the 90s.

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walt-and-co@reddit

I tried, once. I’d broken my right wrist and my mobile was in the inside left pocket of my jacket and I couldn’t get it out. I tried to use a pay phone to let my parents know why I wasn’t home yet but all three of the boxes I tried were out of order. In the end a member of staff at tube station got my phone out for me and I called them.

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BlindStupidDesperate@reddit

Yes, but that is because I am in my 40s...

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ClockAccomplished381@reddit

Yep. I think the last time was 2009, in Australia.

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rocket_magnet@reddit

Yeah, still remember payphones, can still remember using them. Remember, going out to town with your pocket money but always holding back 10p so you could ring home if needed be. Remember when BT desperately tried to keep them relevant at the dawn of the ubiquitous mobile (the integrated keyboard/phone screen so you could text folk) and their death rattle attempts (web browsing & facebook on a payphone) when Internet on mobile properly arrived.

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Zahgurim65@reddit

Before 1982 when I was 16 we got our first house phone, we would have to walk to the main road (about 1/4 mile) to the phonebox in order to call someone. It still staggers me to this day to think about it. Both my sets of grandparents had phones for as long as I could remember but we didn't. Odd.

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Emmieaddict-91@reddit

Yes but last when I was about 18 and I’m now 34

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Lam_Loons@reddit

Late 90s was the last time I used one

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rleaky@reddit

I used one in the mid noughtues but not recently Have all phone boxes now been designated pissers?

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arrowsmith20@reddit

There outside piss toilets

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CaizaSoze@reddit

All the time…. 20 years ago. There is actually a phone box outside my house. I’ve seen it used a handful of times in the years I’ve lived here… mostly as shelter from rain, or just kids messing around in there. I think I’ve seen the actual phone being used once.

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1HeyMattJ@reddit

Well one time I was at a payphone, trying to call home, all of my change I spent on you

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WaterDigDog@reddit

In the US, we were past that point in the 2000s if not 90s

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Crivens999@reddit

Yep. Back in the 90s. I remember phoning a friend in Germany and literally shoving in a quid every minute to talk to her. I wasn’t on great money and was basically broke after half an hour

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Pizzagoessplat@reddit

Of course, but not in a long time

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NotEvenWrongAgain@reddit

I remember a brief period when they introduced open pay phones instead the red booths. When we needed a piss between pubs we’d automatically go and piss on the phone even though it wasn’t enclosed.

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TheRealDanSch@reddit

Absolutely. I've also done the "Two rings means come and pick me up" to save the 10p.

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red_skye_at_night@reddit

I think I remember my mum using one about 20 years ago, that's probably not far off when she got a mobile, and a few years later when I was old enough to be going out on my own I had one too.

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friendlysaxoffender@reddit

Oh wow so today I realise I’m ‘that’ old. Yeah at uni first year I used to call a girl I liked from a phone box down the end of my road. We would be at our respective phone boxes at 8pm each night. Somehow I missed the cues that she was into me. By my final year we all had the very first smartphones and phone boxes felt out of date. Wild huh?

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jelly10001@reddit

Yes, I remember as an 11 year old in 2003 trying to call my neighbour on a payphone, except someone had stolen the microphone so my neighbour couldn't hear me. After that my parents reluctantly gave in and got me a mobile. Now though I've seen so many disturbing happenings in phoneboxes I shudder just walking past them.

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Wooden_Astronaut4668@reddit

Ughhh all those times you had to make a reverse charge call home, the worst was when my mum declined them 🤣 I also had a BT chargecard linked to our home phonebill so didn’t even need to have change to use one…

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Asylum_Brews@reddit

Not in about 15-20 years

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yelnats784@reddit

Yes, about 20 years ago. I used to prank call the sex line or reverse call random people for a laugh.

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ronyeezy@reddit

I think the last time was when I was 17 (in 2010ish???) whilst in Cornwall with no signal!

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longsock9@reddit

Grew up without smartphones right up to 1998, so yeah plenty

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Some-Might-Say-So@reddit

Ok, showing my age for the UK. I remember when all our area codes got new numbers, mid to late 80's I think. All area codes were for eg. 06 07. 04 etc, they added a 1. 016. 017. It was a massive thing. After that does anyone remember when you could TEXT a mobile number from certain phone boxes ?

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1911Earthling@reddit

When we were kids we knew how to use a pay phone without paying. Worked every time. Had to save them dimes when I was a kid.

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TheDawiWhisperer@reddit

once when i was about 12 i rung my mate using a reverse charge because i didn't have any change. he was supposed to meet me near the phone box but never showed. his grandma went fucking mental as it cost about £6 for a 45 second call

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Sensitive_Cut4452@reddit

I used one in london 2019.

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Far-Read8096@reddit

Not in this country for 20 years

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J-H2000@reddit

Used one once at 3am, me and my mate were pissed up and thought it’d be funny to ring someone and just scream down the phone, swiftly got told to fuck off and then went for a kebab.

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ProperComposer7949@reddit

Where are all the crackheads these people are the reason phone boxes are still in service

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kawaiiyokaisenpai@reddit

I used a pay phone whilst backpacking Australia, using payphone cards, not coins. That was 2003. It was a lot cheaper to make an international call from a phonebox than a mobile. When I got back to the UK, I never needed to touch one. It was mobiles all the way. I'm an older millennial, so I'd expect anyone born in the 90s or 00s to have never needed to touch one.

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ratherbefuddled@reddit

How else would I have ordered my delivery of a teenth of the finest hash available at the tender age of 15?

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YammyStoob@reddit

Yes and I still remember the smell.

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Andrew1953Cambridge@reddit

Last time for me was in 2008 to call the AA when my car broke down and my mobile was out of battery.

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DizzyMine4964@reddit

Last time, probably 1995. It was in a city centre and I had addicts/dealers hanging round menacingly because they were using it.

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notlikeontv@reddit

Yes before mobile phones this is how you called home to get picked up when out in town

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ramapyjamadingdong@reddit

Yes. I find it weird explaining to my kids what they are as they have no clue. I am also a brownie leader and they cannot fathom why my brownie uniform included a 10p, pencil and piece of string.

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Icy-Revolution6105@reddit

Last time in the late 90s or early 00s I think.

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lozface86@reddit

I definitely used one in the early 2010s. Accidentally left my phone in a cab and realised as soon as I got out and ran to the payphone nearby to ring my phone so that my friend (who was still in the cab) saw it and grabbed it before her stop. Must have been around 2012..?

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lozface86@reddit

Just to add - I'm in my late 30s.

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pm_me_pyukumuku@reddit

Used to hang out while my older sister and her friend used them to prank call people when I was like 4-5 back in the 90s The one time I was allowed to do it I rang the directory people and asked for the number of a building I was right in front of. She didn't know what hit her 😤

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Firthy2002@reddit

Way back when I was a kid so sometime in the 90s.

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Dungeoneerious@reddit

I've not used one since the mid 90s

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an_empty_field@reddit

Haven't used a phone box since they were still all red - that must have been late 90s. I still remember how they used to smell, eg like stale ashtrays.

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name-already-taken5@reddit

I'm 50 - ish - so yes, I used to use them quite a bit while out and about as a teenager. I remember getting a BT Fone Card, which was a green credit card sized card you could pre-pay and use in the phone boxes equipped to take them. They were in the minority though, and I doubt any still exist since the cards themselves and the infrastructure to support them has long gone. Back in the day it was completely normal to use pay phones. There was no alternative if you were away from home, unless you used the phone in a mate's house or something.

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Doggysoft@reddit

As a child I went away to swimming camp and you used to be able to buy phone cards with credit on. Anyway, someone had written down this code on the wall which meant you could ring home for 'free'. I used it quite a bit and then mam reported me to the head coach to make them aware. Looking back, someone was getting charged but I don't know who.

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Godfather94_@reddit

They've been used as public toilets ever since I've grown up so definitely not lol.

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DaBestDoctorOfLife@reddit

Used to spend fortune in there back in the days! Lots of pennies went in there!

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el-destroya@reddit

Yeah, last time was in about 2019 though, my phone had died. I grew up using them pretty frequently though.

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Howard1981@reddit

Yes back in 1998 when I ran out of petrol

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Commontreacle1987@reddit

Yep years and years ago.

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GooseyDolphin@reddit

Yep as a child, used to have a BT chargecard to phone home before mobile phones were widespread.

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ImpressNice299@reddit

Used to phone my mum once a week from the pay phone on my road. That was about 2002. If I’ve used one since, it escapes me.

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Business-Action-4725@reddit

I did back in the 90s but having got a phone about 1998 I don’t think I did after that.

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No_Pineapple9166@reddit

Yes. I’m old enough to have used the phrase “the pips have gone”.

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CraftyTadpole2488@reddit

We tried to use one in London about 3 years ago. My son loves telephones and really wanted to use one. I had my mum and sister waiting at their house phone to answer our call and it never went through. So disappointing!

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BlueandGreenGlitter7@reddit

I last used one when I was probably 21/22. I’m 45 now.

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LockedDownInSF@reddit

I was born in 1960, so I have used phone booths hundreds of times. Working as an investigative journalist, I even \*received\* calls in phone booths, from anonymous tipsters. But have not used a phone in a booth since 1995.

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Creepy-Brick-@reddit

Yes. Of course. How else would I communicate with my parents if I changed my plans & was going out from work?! They didn’t need to worry if they knew.

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Significant_Net5926@reddit

AMITAH because I received reverse charge calls to phoneboxes???

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Iforgotmypassword126@reddit

I last used one when I was around 18-22 years old as I was in university, traveled home by train and my phone died. I used a pay phone outside the station to call home to let them know. There were not many around be wise it was (c2011-2014) but I was lucky. This would have been

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GeordieAl@reddit

Used to use them a lot in the late 80s/ early 90s. A few of us were part of the Amiga demo scene and We discovered that if you put a pound coin in then hit the phone in Just the right spot it would return your pound but leave the credit. So we used to load up a ton of credit so we could call demo crews and crackers all over Europe for free. Once called up legendary Geordie C64 musician Rob Hubbard in the states just to say we loved his music 🤣

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Kind-Photograph2359@reddit

I reckon 20 years ago but yes.

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Upstairs_Drive_5602@reddit

Yes, but not for 40 years. I bought a mobile phone shaped like a brick around 1993 or 4, but as it was expensive to use (and crap) only really used the work phone in the office. There is a phone box near where I live in Salisbury, not far from the cathedral. Every time I pass there are loads of tourists taking turns to have their photo taken in or beside it. I've yet to see someone use it to make a call.

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mittenshape@reddit

I'm 34. Last used one in 2007. I had a mobile but no credit, so used some coins to call my bf. I reckon some of my peers have never used a payphone though.

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MrSpud45@reddit

Yep. Though not gor a fair few years. Possibly last time was in late 90's.

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natttynoo@reddit

Yeah I’m late 30’s I used to do a reverse call to my mum to get picked up.

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LostViolinist122@reddit

Yes, almost every night out when I was younger, say 15 years ago. Ring the operator, reverse call charge, ring my dad, ask him for a lift home from town cause I'd spent my taxi money on booze. Other than that I've used them lots when abroad, not recent, but definitely in the last 10 years

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Gingy2210@reddit

July 1998 to call BT about switching on the house phone in my new house. The phone box was taken down about 10 years ago.

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Erizohedgehog@reddit

Not since the 1990s I would guess

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FebruaryStars84@reddit

Millennial. Absolutely did use one in the past.

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younghormones@reddit

Only to listen to dial a disc.

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BabbyPotato@reddit

Born in mid 80’s and I’ve used them (not for years mind) my 18 year old has never

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ChelseaGem@reddit

The last time I can think of would have been in New Zealand in 2003, using one of those calling card things where you type in a long number, to call my folks back home.

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VeganEgon@reddit

I’m a millennial that grew up in the care system and I’m gay - yes, I’ve used a phone box many many many times

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holly-ilexholistic@reddit

I'm a millennial (32) and I've used a telephone box quite a few times (in excess of 5 times; probably less than 10 though).

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Gullflyinghigh@reddit

Yes but not since my early teens and I'm nearly 40 so...been a while!

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sh1ts_and_g1gg1es@reddit

Yes. And i used phone cards to call abroad from a pay phone because it was too expensive to use on home phone 😣😅

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BCircle907@reddit

Not since about 2001

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jamie123m001@reddit

In my younger days 2003ish 0800-reverse from a payphone in nowheresville used to be my lift home if me and my mates had wandered a few villages to far

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Outrageous_Shirt_737@reddit

I had to use a pay phone in 2014. I was horrified to discover it was 60p!

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

Yep, long way from the days of 2p and 10p calls 🤣

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Outrageous_Shirt_737@reddit

Gone are the days when you could say “Here’s 10p. Phone your mum and tell her you won’t be home tonight”.

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ElectricalInflation@reddit

I did when I was younger. I used to reverse call my mam to let her know when I was ready to be picked up from the swimming baths etc. We used to also use them to prank call the sex advice line 😅

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EyeCatchingUserID@reddit

I've used plenty of payphones (not in a long time), but never like an actual "gotta wait for superman to finish changing in there" phone booth. The ones I used were always just open air deals, a handset wired into a big metal box on a stand with a dial pad and coin slot.

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Whole-Being8618@reddit

Yes but I'm 48

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Different-Employ9651@reddit

I had a BT charge card for years. Can still remember the number, too.

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Many_Hamster6055@reddit

A couple of times

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Wiltix@reddit

Yes but it was some time around the year 2000

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Graz279@reddit

Yes, as I'm old. I moved into some grotty bedsit after getting my first job from Uni, no phone, mobiles may have existed but were big and very expensive. I used the phone box down the road to call home, I'd get my Mum or Dad to ring me back 🤣 I expect I used them many times growing up as, of course as youths we never prank called anyone from one or anything naughty like that 😉

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Gullible_Mode_1141@reddit

No phone calls to Mr or Mrs Walls? 😉

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muffsniffer3@reddit

I remember lines of phone boxes outside motorway service stations, each one with a queue of sales reps etc. outside, ahh the days before mobiles.

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SunUsual550@reddit

When I was at secondary school if I had football training or any other after school activity, I would often use the payphone to reverse charge call my parents to come and get me. The bus service was patchy and sometimes you'd be waiting over an hour for a bus. I think I got my first mobile phone about age 14 circa 2000 and probably never used a payphone again.

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ThisIsAnAccount2306@reddit

Not for many years

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Fool_In_Flow@reddit

The phone book that was attached to the booth with the metal chord. That was peak technology at the time.

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yorkspirate@reddit

2001ish and I had to do a reverse charge call to my dad because my car had run out of petrol on the way home from work

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hannah3186@reddit

I last used one in 2019 my fone broke wen I was out so used it to call home

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GolfTraditional8113@reddit

The old phone boxes had 3 coin slots, I’m pretty sure you could use thruppence, six pence or shilling coins. I was only 8 when the coins went to decimal but I learnt to reverse the call charges anyway and kept the phone money I carried for sweets!

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Youtalkingtomyboobs@reddit

Yeah, but not in over 20 years!

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Op2097@reddit

I used them up until 1999. Lots of reverse charge calls.

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browneyone@reddit

Yes in the late 90's

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West_Guarantee284@reddit

Yeah but not since 1998

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cheeseley6@reddit

Probably mid 90s for me when I was at university. Got a mobile when I started work in 96 and that was that!

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Hair_of_the_cat_@reddit

Yes. Used them all the time in the 90s and would answer one if ringing when I walked passed. Often it was another kid asking if their mate was about. If when you “knocked for” someone they weren’t in, you could call the phone box close to where you think they might be playing 😂

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Suspicious-Bug6588@reddit

I’m in my 20’s. I used one about two years ago. If I remember correctly we had to use one as part of our Duke of Edinburgh Award and/or when I was in Scouts, as part of our expeditions.

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Cold_Table8497@reddit

When I was at Yooni I had a phone card.

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nimbusgb@reddit

40 years ago, possibly more!

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shpdoinkle@reddit

Didn’t have a phone at home when I was young. Dad wouldn’t have one. I think I was 17 before he finally relented (so, 1992). However, there was a public telephone box just outside our front gate, which was handy for the rare occasion we needed such a thing - like when our chimney caught fire. I was slow on the uptake in terms of mobile phone adoption, but haven’t used a public pay phone for nigh on 30 years. I did actually have cause to handle a payphone last year, after some feral kid left the handset dangling at my nearest local one. I just put it back on the hook on my way past.

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Sattaman6@reddit

I’m in my mid-40s and used it a lot when I was younger but not since the late 90s.

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SAPOhuman@reddit

1997 was the last time I used a payphone. It was one of those glass and stainless steel boxes. It had been pissed in.

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Cyber-Axe@reddit

Not since like 1997

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RandomlyPrecise@reddit

I think the last time I used a payphone was the last time I could recite a phone number from memory. I don’t even know my kids’ numbers anymore, they’re all stored as names on my mobile phone!

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Not_Sugden@reddit

Yes. Probably between 2014-2016. Used it to do a reverse charge call on 0800 mum dad

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bouncer-1@reddit

Yeh loads, 35 years ago

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Hungry-Falcon3005@reddit

Of course but not since the 80s

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beeurd@reddit

Not for a long time, probably over 25 years by now.

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turkishhousefan@reddit

Summer of 2001 in France, IIRC. Last English one was Summer of 2000, again, IIRC. Got a mobile phone in spring 2001 but was a dumb child who would have lost it, so didn't take it to France.

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Hachimon1479@reddit

The one and only time I used one to reverse charge a call to my mum so she could pick me up 😆 1993

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Wonderpants_uk@reddit

Back in the late 2000s, when my mobile died. Had to look round for a fair bit before I found a phone box too, as they were getting scarce even then.

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Hazehill@reddit

When I was a kid they still had massive phonebooks on hinges in them so you could look people up. Those were phased out and then phonecards came along along with reverse charge cards a bit later and then they slowly disappeared as mobile phones became more and more popular. There are red phoneboxes where I live but they've been converted into book swaps.

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ffjjygvb@reddit

I used a pay phone when I visited America in about 2014. Visiting Europe my mobile and bank card worked no problems so I assumed they would in the US too. Had to use a pay phone to sort it all out.

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Same-Shit-New-Day@reddit

Yes, back in the 70's, only rich people had house phones. You had to use them.

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Frankwizza@reddit

Yes! Maybe last time was in about 1999 though

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Ur_favourite_psycho@reddit

Yes. I remember once I was locked out of my house in the snow and I had no money so I did the reverse payment thing. (Basically the call starts and ask the person who's being called if they will accept the charge for the call). The person who was called was so supposed to say yes but my grandad being the proper type of person he was kept saying "I accept" and it wouldn't let the call go through.

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Acrylic_Starshine@reddit

Did when i was a kid but the pips used to scare me.

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FunGuyUK83@reddit

Yes, I used them often growing up. 10p to quickly ring your mate to see if they were coming out to play.

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MrJoshHere@reddit

I did in the late 2000’s a few times coming home from school. Collect calls were easy. There was talk about making them public WiFi spots. But I think most high streets have multiple businesses with WiFi

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lethargic8ball@reddit

1998. Anyone born after that is more likely to have never used one.

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pyromanta@reddit

Last time I used one I was about 17 and my Nokia was out of battery. Used it to call my mate to tell him where to meet me.

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LetsGoMugEm@reddit

I actually had to use 1 2 weeks ago. I pay as you go on my phone and it was coming out on the 15th every month, I wanted it to come out on the 25th so I went 10 days with no phone. Had to deliver to a customer in the center of Cheltenham and the delivery address didn't come up on Google maps. Spent 5 minutes walking up a road and I found a payphone, it worked! However I think I caught herpes and various other ailments using it, twas disgusting. In fact as disgusting as they always were in the 90s. And it costs me a quid a minute!

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WritingMajor4297@reddit

I'm 33 and I don't think I've ever used one!

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shutupspanish@reddit

I’m 33 and used them a fair bit in the early noughties - I had a brick phone from age 13 but I never had any credit on it so although I could receive calls I would almost always have to use a pay phone if I actually needed to call someone! I reckon the last time I used one was probably 2007/8?

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ghexplorer@reddit

I'm also 33 and used them a few times in the 90s to call my parents from the other side of the village. Used to annoy them no end as it was a pretty small village so I could have just walked home to ask them a question

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No-Jump-9601@reddit

Not since 95 when I got my first mobile. I miss the days of not being contactable.

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tamhenk@reddit

Yeah. Last time was about 1990

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BronnOP@reddit

Used to use them when I was playing out as a kid. Never paid for them though. Always prank called free phone numbers with my mates or did the old 0800-R-E-V-E-R-S-E much to the annoyance of my parents.

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Nrysis@reddit

I would hazard that the majority of people in their 40's and above will have, those in their 30's and younger will have not. Before ~2000 they were a pretty standard tool for a lot of people and one of the most accessible ways to pass messages on when in the move. When phones like the Nokia 5110 appeared at the end of the century and reached the story of price that meter mortals would be able to afford (especially teenagers) they completely replaced the phone box by being exactly the same thing, just even more convenient. Of course the transition wasn't instant, but that was around the time things really shifted.

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richyyoung@reddit

Last year. Phone was in getting fixed. There is one about 10m from my front door

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emmjaybeeyoukay@reddit

Yes but I am early Gen X sovfor ne telephone box calls to my parents were normal. Heckb even had a prearranged call 3 rings hangup. Call 2 rings hangup. Then they would call back to the payphone.

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Interesting-Sky-7014@reddit

Not since 2005 I think

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ShutItYouSlice@reddit

Only to light a genie 🧞

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theemoemue@reddit

Pretty sure I used one to prank call sexline when I was a kid.

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sprucay@reddit

I used one when I was 14 or 15. I dialed 0800 reverse because I had no money. In the bit where it says "say your name" to record your name so the other person knows who it is and can accept the call, I said "mumitssprucayimatthetrainstationpickmeuppleasethanks" so my mum could collect me but didn't have to pay the reverse charges.

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MidfieldGeneralKeane@reddit

Remember the pips? That was when you had to put more coins in or the call would hang up. Pip pip pip pip 😂

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

I used to call em the Panic Pips, coz they usually took me by suprise and I'd knock the coin from the top of the slot onto the bloody floor. Fun times, scurrying round for the coin on a concrete floor, covered in fag ends, litter and who knew what else 🤣

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johimself@reddit

When I was a kid my parents got me a BT chargecard, which meant that you dialled a special number from payphones and it let you call people, using your parents' landline phone bill. I used to use them all the time, until I got a mobile in about 1999. I lived in a fairly rural area, a lot of my friends used to share the telephone number of the phone box nearest their house, and we would hang out there and call each other's phone boxes to chat in the evenings after school.

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Herne_KZN@reddit

Last time must have been around….2009

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Cr0wsbeforeh0ez@reddit

As a child, to make prank calls

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NorthernLad2025@reddit

2016, just for the novelty of it. Got some very strange looks from passer's by 🤣

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IllustriousLimit8473@reddit

As a teen, I've only successfully used one once in like 2015. But the important word here is "successfully" as I've tried to use them before if low battery but the phone box doesn't open, it's covered in rubbish and someone must have tried to pee in it, so I reached in and put my pennies in, then I learned that the phone box was not working

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pinkdaisylemon@reddit

Born in the 60's, so yes, many times!

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Pedantichrist@reddit

Many, many times. I am guessing it is in the thousands.

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IcyPuffin@reddit

I use to use them all the time. I often lived in houses that did not have a landline and mobiles weren't a thing in those days. So if I wanted to make a call I had to actually go out the house and make all my calls at the nearest payphone. I was fortunate that I had payphone near where I lived - one place i had 2 that were pretty much the same distance away (there were far more payphone back then). And i was lucky that they were not too bad to use, sometimes you got a phone box that someone had mistaken for a toilet, that wasn't pleasant. I've not used one in years though. I think one of the last times I used one was about 25 years ago.

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SirTimmons@reddit

We had one next to our local spoons. Endless fun ringing it and saying weird shit to whoever answered.

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Important_March1933@reddit

Of course many times!

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Wise_Caterpillar5881@reddit

I was born in the late 90s and I used a phonebox occasionally when I was a teenager. I had a habit of forgetting to charge my phone so I had to use one to call my mum to pick me up after work a few times.

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Character_Athlete877@reddit

I think the last time I used one was in 2012 when I needed to make a phone call but I didn't have any credit on my phone, and I only had a handful of change to my name.

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chroniccomplexcase@reddit

Yes, a few times and I’m 36. Once for a brownie badge on staying safe or something similar. We had to phone our parents on one to show we knew what to do. Then when I did Duke of Edinburgh myself I used one as my friend twisted her ankle really badly and we didn’t have signal to use our Nokia (that was taped and sealed and signed in our bags) so we found one near a pub. It didn’t work, just swallowed our money. So we went into the pub and they gave us all chips and drinks for free whilst we waited- so we were glad it broke! Then I ran Duke of Edinburgh myself as a teacher and had to use on as it was 2010/2011 and again we didn’t have good signal and I wanted to find out how my student was who broke his leg tripping over a rabbit hole the night before. I’ve never used one since then to my memory

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emmadilemma71@reddit

Always had an emergency 10pence in case I needed to make a call. Thankfully never needed and just as well as used to spend the 10p on a mars bar! Using the phone box was a way for privacy rather than the family land line in the front room with family present.

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unbelievablydull82@reddit

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, we didn't have a telephone, so we had to use a local phone box. I remember there being long queues and waiting around for what felt like forever

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jasilucy@reddit

0800REVERSE

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ComplexBeautiful7852@reddit

I'm 36 and still remember the landline number from a house I moved out of in 1998, due to calling it from payphones so often.

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aljones27@reddit

Yes… last time was 2 years ago. Remote campsite with a payphone booth as there was no mobile signal. Which reminds me, whilst staying in a similar campsite ~10years ago I ended up teaching a bunch of DofE teens how to use a payphone! They thought it was broken until I showed them how to use Button A and Button B…

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Flashy-Pea8474@reddit

2007. Big night and battery dead. Luckily the landline number was ingrained in my head. Unfortunately, it was the wrong landline and called up my granny and I was completely wiped. I still remember my heart sinking.

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Paulstan67@reddit

Yes but it will have been 30+ years ago. The last was probably a pub payphone (every pub had a payphone on the bar) phoning for a taxi.

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OddPiglet6589@reddit

All the time in the 80's & 90's. 50p used to last ages when calling up a gf. The smell of piss was off putting though but you got used to it after a little while.

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-DAS-@reddit

Yes but not in the UK

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dinkybobs@reddit

Yes but not in a very long time

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New_Line4049@reddit

I have, a long time ago. Probably very early 2000s. Most of them don't even have a phone in them anymore that I've seen. One near my parents has been turned into... like.... a little book swap shop

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crashdout@reddit

Remember BT phone cards? My parents would always get one so I could call home .

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cainejay93@reddit

I used to use the phone box near my dealers area, he’d see the number and know where to come

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anti-sugar_dependant@reddit

I definitely used one in about 2003, but I got a mobile in 2005 and I don't think I've used a phone box since.

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Icy_Hedgehog_1350@reddit

I used them to call prozzies so me mum wouldn't know

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Cosmicshimmer@reddit

Yes! Within the last 7 years. I had dropped my mobile phone and needed to make a phone call to the doctors. Trotted my arse off to the phone box just up the road. There’s 2 but one is usually out of order or had its receiver cut off but the other is generally working.

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LobsterMountain4036@reddit

Not since I was a child. My dad let me do it as a novelty. The only time I’ve used it seriously was to call home France on a school to tell them we were at sort of terminal at the end of the trip and would be home in a few hours.

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five_five_@reddit

Halloween night 2003. It was pitch black. My moped had broken down out in the sticks and my mobile was completely dead. I walked about a quarter of a mile to the phone box and there was no light inside so I had to dial home by feeling my way around the keypad including the dialling code 😆

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fairkatrina@reddit

Older millennial here. My parents have a croft in the highlands where we’d spend our summers as kids. To call our grandparents we had to walk half a mile to the phone box because we didn’t have a landline and mobile phones weren’t a thing (and even when they were, you really only got reliable signal up there in the last 5-10 years). I also used to use the pay phone at the station to call my parents for a lift if I missed the last train when I was in school/college.

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Terrible_Biscotti_14@reddit

2001 was probably the last time I used one! Loved a text phone when I had no credit left lol

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XiiMoss@reddit

It’s my mates job to fix them and apparently they barely get used but he still goes and fixes them when kids trash them

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Mootpoint_691@reddit

We didn’t have a phone at home. So we ran to the phone box on Park Lane. You’d be given 10/20/50p in 10p pieces and the phone no and told to run up the road. Usually it had to be at a certain time so the recipient of said call would be in another phone box waiting to answer, lol. In short, yes but not since the mid 1980s…

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butterscotchwhip@reddit

Last time was at uni in the early 1990s. Lots of 5p and 10p to phone home and let the parents know I was still alive and could they send more money please lol.

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InevitablePen3465@reddit

I've only ever used them for shelter to light joints

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Dr_Rapier@reddit

Loads, even the red cast iron lads, but not recently obvs.

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the_gwyd@reddit

I used a pay phone in 2021, although it wasn't in a phone box

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Superspark76@reddit

Used to have a card which you typed the number in and it charged the call to your phone bill.

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_FirstOfHerName_@reddit

I'm 31 and I've used one as recently as my early 20s

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TheHonGalahad@reddit

Not since the 20th century.

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paintingcolour51@reddit

90’s on holidays to ring close family and very late 90’s at secondary school to ring my mum if I needed something. I did have a phone at some point then but there was zero reception at our school so we would queue up with our 10p’s

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SubstantialFly3316@reddit

Yeah, loads of times but like most other folk who have, not in about 20 years or so. Done it with phone cards and reversed charges too. .

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Pretend_Peach3248@reddit

2001?

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damapplespider@reddit

I dialled 999 from one in the early noughties because my mobile had no signal. But before that, it was probably in the early 90s when I was in University halls to call home. Soon as I had a landline of my own, pay phones went by the wayside. Talking of landlines, remember when you houseshared with one and had arguments over people hogging the line with boyfriends or dial up modems.

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Waitsjunkie@reddit

It's probably been at least 15 years since I last used one for anything and that was probably on account of my mobile phone not having a signal/network or something when I was travelling.

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Marmalade43@reddit

I remember the ones that you had to force a 2p or 10p into the slot once the person answered. It left dents in your thumb. I can’t remember the last time I used a phone box.

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ExtentOk6128@reddit

Used to listen to pop music on them.

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CriticalMine7886@reddit

Hundreds of times. I was a mobile engineer in the 80's and 90's and had to call the office several times a day to see if there were any breakdowns I needed to attend - also carried a pager but we had to ring in periodically just in case the pager failed to beep. It was also so the office could check where you were - "we'll just call you back to save your money...". We all tended to learn where the last phone with the correct area code was when leaving a place to go home.

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HargoJ@reddit

Used one to ring my dad in 2003 to come and pick me up. Would have been 16 I think.

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chris5156@reddit

40 years old. Last used one in 2009 when I lost my mobile.

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TW1103@reddit

When I was a kid in the last 90s/early 00s (I'm talking maybe 6 years old) I ran to one whilst I was walking home from school with my mum and dialled 999. Still no idea why I did it.

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Notagelding@reddit

The last time I used a phone box was in about 2011 when I fell asleep in one at the bottom of Northumberland Street, after a drunken night out 😂

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Cool_Finding_6066@reddit

Yes, because I am old and remember such things of ages past.

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AnonymousTimewaster@reddit

I recall using one in the village once when my phone ran out of charge. About 20 years ago. I think we also used to make some prank calls from there too.

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Mysterious_Soft7916@reddit

Last time I used one was actually to send a text probably circa 2005. We had a few phone boxes that you could text and email from. To actually use the phone was probably around 2003, for ringing utilities or taxis.

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addicted-2-cameltoe@reddit

I used to walk past them and check for money...1 in 10 times there'll be some change left...28yr ago

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awwwwJeezypeepsman@reddit

Not in about 10 years.

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Lonely_Picture3098@reddit

I learned to use a pay phone in a red phone box at school - using a 2p piece to make the call! Our whole class did it, one by one, to phone one of the teachers at home so that they knew we could all do it in an emergency. This would have been around 1975-6. Last time I used one was the mid 90s, before I got a mobile phone in 1995.

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hope1es@reddit

There's a British red phone box and post box in a German town square. Both are in use regularly.

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letsshittalk@reddit

nah ive had a mobile phone since i was 11 in 2001 didnt talk to people before that lol

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Ill_Temporary_9509@reddit

As part of probably the last generation who didn’t have mobiles as teenagers, we used phone boxes all the time. At least when you wanted to have a private conversation. Or when you wanted picking up, ringing home, letting it ring twice then hanging up.

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cdp181@reddit

Yes in like 1994

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New_Expectations5808@reddit

2000 maybe. Think there was a train strike and needed to call my mum

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thehappyotter34@reddit

Absolutely. Bonus points for reversing the charges to piss my parents off. They used to have paper phone books in them and we rapidly found which of our secondary school teachers didn't have the sense to make themselves ex-directory!

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AlexisJordanGFlame@reddit

Yup, would have been the early 2000's. Didnt get a phone proper until 2002, and even then, didn't always have credit.

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spacegirl2820@reddit

Always when I was younger. I'll be 47 next month.

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Aggravating_Pain7116@reddit

Last time i used one was probably coming up to 10 years ago, on a night out on the town some bird took me back to her place left a couple hours later and had a 40-50 minute walk across town back to mine as my phone battery had died, come across a working phone box just as daylight was breaking 15 minutes into the walk, had a taxi with me in minutes..

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xycm2012@reddit

I recall using one as a teen around 2006/07 when I was out and my mobile phone battery died. Called my mum to tell her my phone was dead and what bus I’d be getting home. One and only time I think.

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SnooBooks1701@reddit

I think I did once when my phone ran out of charge

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ebbs808@reddit

Yes I'm old

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simmyawardwinner@reddit

i used one once at a tube station in the year 2000 lol

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Dr_Turb@reddit

Some people's only relevant experience will be having had a Fisher Price telephone as a toddler!

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Leebles84@reddit

Yes and now I need to check my back and knees for various aches

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C64Nation@reddit

I made a cup of tea in a phone box. I was camping on the isle of Skye and it was the only place I could light my stove as it was raining horizontally.

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martyrees76@reddit

About 15 years ago when my mobile wouldn’t get a signal. Bloody thing wouldn’t take coins either

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tjjwaddo@reddit

It used to be all there was for very many people, so yes, more times than I can count.

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Semi-On-Chardonnay@reddit

Probably the last time for me was roughly a quarter of a century ago.

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DameKumquat@reddit

Oh the hours of getting cold ankles in a phone box but not wanting to hang up on a boyfriend... Last time I used one was around 2012, when I remembered my toddler and my baby when going out, but forgot my phone, and needed to tell my parents when to collect me from their local station. Nice operator explained that I didn't need to reverse charges, I could just give her my debit card details and then have the call added to my home bill.

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BookWurm_90@reddit

Ordered drugs on one bout 17 years ago

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CuteNeedleworker9@reddit

Yes but about 20 years ago and even then it was only because I needed to ring someone's mobile and I didn't have enough credit left on mine.

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CrabbyGremlin@reddit

I tho k the last time I used one was 2004. I just remembered trying to say everything you need to say in the time allocated to the amount of money put in, and then being cut off.

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Sleepyllama23@reddit

Yes but not for about 25 years. Before mobile phones it was the only way to call people when you were out- phoning a taxi at the end of the night (no uber), calling my parents from university (I had a phonecard to call my parents). It was just normal but seems wildly inconvenient now.

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keepthebear@reddit

Yeah, we used to do a collect call to ask my parents to pick us up!

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s4turn2k02@reddit

22, and I’ve never been in one hahaha

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Nedonomicon@reddit

Yes in my youth , we actually still have working red phone box in our town and every how and then I’ll get the kids to use it as a novelty lol . I have to explain how it was in the before times to them

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EndOfMae@reddit

Young millennial here, I’ve used a pay phone in my teens when I ran out of credit on my mobile

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FelisCantabrigiensis@reddit

I have, but not for quite a few years, perhaps 20. I predate commercial availability of mobile phones.

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buy_me_a_pint@reddit

Not since the 90s, I was in the cubs and part of our kit each week was a 10p coin There was a pay phone in secondary school which some students did use, one or two students wasted money to make prank phone calls. There was a pay phone quite near to where we live

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katek00@reddit

Yes. Last time in 90s while i was a child on a school trip. It was a "treat" calling grandparents from a school trip to "the seaside" ;)

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s4turn2k02@reddit

Ah that’s actually quite lovely

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JBEqualizer@reddit

I'm 47, do yes, I've definitely used a payphone. The last time I used one was some time in the 2000s, when my mobile died during a noght out, and I needed to call my girlfriend before getting a taxi home.

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Stucumber@reddit

I think the last time I used one was outside Crewe station. It had the hugest poo in it I've ever seen and I've been to the Jórvík Centre

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maplemanskidby@reddit

When I was mid-teens I borrowed 20p from a shop with a promise to give it back next week so I could call my mum to come pick me up, I went back next week to give them it back and someone else was on the till, they just looked at me like I was an idiot and said it's alright.

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Dr_Turb@reddit

The first time I can remember using one, I lost money (1d) because I couldn't understand the instructions (Press Button 'A' vs. Press Button 'B'). Luckily I mastered it, although when I was using a payphone regularly the required coin was a florin (10p) and there were no longer any buttons. When setting out to make a long distance call, the weight of coins required was somewhat inconvenient.

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MidfieldGeneralKeane@reddit

Last time I used one was when my phone was out of battery and I used a pay phone to ring someone but that was prob in the late 00s I think. Most phone boxes now have a defibrillator in them so they have been changed into something else.

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AshKinslow@reddit

I called one last year, there’s one up the road from the pub in my town and I called a few times when a drunk patron would walk past, other than that I used one three years ago at a train station to call my friend as my phone was dead

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MDK1980@reddit

Yeah, about 30 years ago.

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Dru2021@reddit

Used one in the last year to show my kids this strange contraption! They were amazed I could use a phone in a box to call a mobile….

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turingthecat@reddit

We had a pay phone outside our dayroom in sixth form. If you didn’t have a 10p coin, you pressed 0, you were put through to the operator (and actual person, not a push button menu or AI), asked to reverse the charges, and tell them the phone number (and we all knew our friends’ home phone numbers off by heart). The operator would ask your name, then connect you, and ask the person who answered if they will accept the charges, it’d normally be the parent of the friend, as the number was tied to the place, not the person. It would charge the person you were phone about 3X’s as much as if you paid, so 30p for a couple of minutes instead of 10p. I did have a mobile then, but it cost 15p a text, and to get more credit (for texts or calls, you didn’t have internet on the phone, and the only game was snake 2), you had to go to a shop, buy a physical card for £5, and enter the numbers. So we tried not to use it to much As I did my a-levels just over 30 years ago, so that’d be the last time I used one. You try and explain any part of that to one of my niblings, they’d look at you like you had 2 heads

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Upset-Woodpecker-662@reddit

Lol. You're funny! "Payphone in the phone box" are not such a old dinosaur thing. It was still used quite a bit until mid 2000 in UK. Then mobile phone contracts changed for the better, international call became more affordable on mobile etc... This was only 20 ish years ago 😅. Good lord! I'm getting old!

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knightsbridge-@reddit

Yes, but not since 2002 or so. When I was a young teen, my mobile was PAYG, and I was regularly out of credit. At which point my Nokia 5210 became a high tech phone book to be used in conjunction with a phone box.

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Far_Bad_531@reddit

2p a call …. Speaking three times as fast when the “pips” had gone 🤣

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Ok-Orchid-5646@reddit

Had to use one recently. Needed to sterilise self afterwards. Was one of the new style ones. *shudders* I do chuckle when I see tourists with the red ones. They are iconic, but most don't have phones in and have been pissed all over. Shame, really!

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cloud1445@reddit

Yes I'm 49.

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Claire1075@reddit

Yes. I actually used one about 10 years ago. There's still one of the later ones on the corner of our street. I don't think it's working (??), but the phone lines/Internet went down in the local area for about a day, and everyone had to use phone boxes. I'd even forgotten how to use it! And weirdly, someone in their 20s had to show me (??)! Before that, I think it was about 1998 ish?? Something like that. (I'm old enough to remember the rotary dial phones at home by the way. I was born in 1975). I reckon it'll be another 40+ years before the last people alive will remember using payphone.

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fanacapoopan@reddit

Yes many years ago.

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geyeetet@reddit

I'm 25 and my mobile broke when I was about 20 and I wanted to call my mum from town and thought about using a phone box and then realised I literally didn't know how lol.

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meemii8@reddit

Yes. I'm in my late 30s and used them up until I got my first mobile phone which was probably in 2000. There were two phone boxes near my house, one over the road and the other at the other end of the street. We actually didn't have a house phone in my house until I was about 9 or 10. Not sure why, another bill I guess. I remember going in the phone box with my mum to make calls.

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bababababoos@reddit

About 22 years ago. Pissed up 0800 reversing my parents to come get me from the arse end of nowhere in the early hours after going to a party. I was 15 and told them I would be staying at a friend's house down the road. They were not happy with me. Not sure why. Guess they didn't appreciate being woken up 🤷‍♀️

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INTJinx@reddit

My friends and I used to prank call people from one in town. 20p well spent every time.

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CupcakeIntelligent32@reddit

Last time I used one must of been like 2008

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PassDazzling@reddit

Probably 20 years ago I took a road trip to Wales on my own and used an old BT phone box that was absolutely covered in cobwebs to call home.

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Djinjja-Ninja@reddit

I can't remember using an actual phone box since the early 90s, back when BT Phonecards were still a thing and I was at school. I think I probably last used a payphone in general in about '96 or so to call home from uni halls, and [I had my first mobile in '98](https://www.modip.ac.uk/sites/default/files/styles/artefact_carousel_full/public/images/artefacts/002899_1.jpg?itok=1OcStWA9), so never needed one ever again.

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owzleee@reddit

I’m 57. Of course I did. Even down to the ‘2 rings no 2p’ to call my mum to pick us up after swimming. At Uni in the 80s it was the only way to keep in touch (and I was useless at it).

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Fruitpicker15@reddit

Last time was in 2004 when my car broke down and I didn't have my mobile with me. After that I always kept it with me but now I'm a grumpy middle aged git I've started leaving it at home when I want peace and quiet.

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shanna811@reddit

Only once to make a proper phone call to get my mum to pick me up when I was kid. Although we did call the speaking clock a lot to find out what time it was. But that was in the 90s

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Automatic_Goal_5491@reddit

In the late 90s I had one of those accounts where you could just dial home so that I could get picked up from the local train station. Can't remember using one since I have got a mobile though.

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Particular-Opinion44@reddit

Must have been 99 or early 00's. Fell asleep on a train and needed dad's cab's to pick me up

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justdont7133@reddit

Used them loads as a kid, but got my first mobile in 1999 and don't think I've used one since

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Soldarumi@reddit

Yes, in 2014 (I'm now 34). I had been on a week-long bender in London. I hadn't charged my old Nokia in all that time, and it had finally died. None of the people with proper jobs at St Pancras would lend me their mobile (understandable, I probably stank like a brewery). But I was out of money, and I needed to get back home. Station staff said there were a few phones right over the other side of the station, so I gathered what change I had and off I went. I sheepishly called my mum (it was the only number I had learned off by heart) and said can I borrow 25 quid for a train ticket, which she kindly sent across. So, I bought my 20 quid ticket and spent the fiver on one final pint while I waited for my train.

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molluscstar@reddit

Yep, probably last used one in the late 90’s - I’m an elder millennial (43)

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atsevoN@reddit

Yeah quite a lot in the mid 2000s, when we still had a house house phone me and my friends used them whilst we were out as away to contact parents when we didn’t have a mobile phone with any credit left, sometimes we would use them to ask if we could stay over at somebody’s house or sometimes just to prank call when we were bored. I was born in 1997, probably last used one in 2008

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PM-me-your-cuppa-tea@reddit

Nearly 30 I've never used a payphone in or out of a phone box. I've not used a landline since I was 16 either.

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Paran0id_Andr0id_@reddit

Before the days of mobiles, I used to request reverse charge calls home and when it asked you to record your name for the other person, I’d say the location I was to let my mum know where to pick me up

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Mel-but@reddit

I'm 21, never have never will, even if I ever do need one I won't have cash on me

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PM-ME-YOUR-DIGIMON@reddit

Yeah I used to use them to call 0800 reverse (or whatever it was called) when I was out of credit so my mum knew that she needed to call me lol.

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ClarifyingMe@reddit

Yes I did as a child. I think it was 20p a minute but I can't remember. It wasn't a common occurrence and I think I only used it twice or three times.

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TheDoctor66@reddit

In the 00s, but even that was 0800 REVERSE "Mum pick me up from the cinema"

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Otherwise_Cut_8542@reddit

Was essential to teenage life when I was young as I had to always have 20p (and then 50p) to be allowed out, so I could call home if needed.

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existingeverywhere@reddit

I used to 0800 reverse my mum from the one just round the corner from the house, she thought it was funny the first time but after that she’d get so raging haha.

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thumbsupchicken@reddit

I used to page my dealer and then stand by the phone box untill he rang me back In the 90s

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StupidMusician1@reddit

Yes, in the 90s and early 2000s

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spiderplant94@reddit

Some time circa 2012 at Manchester Piccadilly station when my phone had died and I needed to let my mam know my train home from uni was delayed.

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eithrusor678@reddit

I used to love finding a phone card with credit still on it. Was like Christmas!

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ilo12345@reddit

Absolutely but not since I got a mobile phone around 1995/96!

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discombobulatededed@reddit

I’m 30 and I have, I think it was for an 0800 number my mom didn’t want to use the landline for haha.

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oohliviaa@reddit

I last used one just over 15 years ago when I was a teenager, I think it was 10p to send a text, I didn’t have any credit on my phone 😅

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iamuhtredsonofuhtred@reddit

Late 90s probably, I'm 41 years old. I do remember using them to call home if I was going to be late for whatever reason. But then I got a mobile at 15 in 1998, so would have been around then.

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WoodyManic@reddit

Yes, often. They've disconnected and removed most of them where I lived now, but I used them frequently.

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Playful_Tie_5323@reddit

not used one since i got a mobile around 1996 i think. Anyone remember the phone cards you could use as well - prepaid cards that you put into a slot - not thought of them in years until now!

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shrek-09@reddit

Jesus thanks for making me feel old, I remember them because, I remember a time before mobile phones

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NortonBurns@reddit

I have, but a long time ago - probably late 70s. We were later than most to have a house phone, 1978, but I don't think I've used one since. I guess for the entirety of the 80s & early 90s I used home or office phone. Out & about it wasn't that important. By the end of the 90s I'd joined the wave of new mobile phone owners, & even had one in the car.

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gardenhippy@reddit

The last time was 20 years ago - I’m an older millennial.

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SunDriedFart@reddit

yes and to go one step further i used it to make a reverse charge call to my parents. This was about 20 years ago now

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withnailstail123@reddit

Throughout the 90’s. Used the reverse call charge many a time when I was stranded !

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Rocketintonothing@reddit

Back in the day yes Now there is no need to

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WiccanPixxie@reddit

I’ve used phoneboxes in the past, including ones that had a rotary dealing phone and you had to wait till the person picked up before pushing your money in. Push it in too soon and you lost your money! Haven’t used one in years, think the last time I even used a pay phone I was in the USA and (at the time) was cheaper than using my mobile as I was calling a local number to where I was staying

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Amonette2012@reddit

I used to walk all the way across the village to have a private conversation with my boyfriend.

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bakedNdelicious@reddit

Last time was probably late 90s/early 2000s.

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Mr-Incy@reddit

Mobile phones took off in the late nineties and in the early twenties almost everyone had one, so I guess in about 40 to 50 years time we will be at the stage where most people who would have been old enough to use a payphone before mobile phones became the go to will no longer be with us.

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mattjimf@reddit

Naughties, Twenties was either 100 years ago or started 5 years ago.

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Mr-Incy@reddit

I meant early two thousands, I will edit, thank you.

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newtonbase@reddit

Last time was in 1996 IIRC

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wickedwix@reddit

I used to have to use one when I ran out of mobile credit back in 2007/2008, there was one outside a shop not far from my school so I'd have to walk over there to call my house phone.

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i_sesh_better@reddit

I'm 22, never used one. Had a mobile phone since I was about 10 and, if my phone's dead, I don't carry cash (let alone change) anyway.

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intothedepthsofhell@reddit

Yes. If I remember correctly you could use 2ps as the minimum to make a call. I have also slept in a phonebox once when I got caught in the snow and couldn't get a taxi home. Would not recommend.

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perrosandmetal78@reddit

I have and can still remember the smell of piss. I don't miss them

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DeapVally@reddit

There are some areas where the natural geography makes mobile phones useless. I used one in a hostel less than a decade ago. They didn't have WiFi, and the nearest signal was a hike up a big hill, in the dark. Seemed like the best option 🤷🏼‍♂️

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Pepys-a-Doodlebugs@reddit

Last time was nearly 10 years ago. I lost my mobile and decided not to replace it straight away. Long story short I ended up in hospital and a phone would have been handy to let people know where I was.

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AcanthisittaFlaky385@reddit

When I was young I would use a nearby payphone and phone a hotline to get gaming cheats.

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Practical_Scar4374@reddit

"Gaming Hotline" "For Cheats"

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IscaPlay@reddit

Not since the early 2000’s. Haven’t used a physical landline at home for over a decade.

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Arduous_Aardvark@reddit

All the time in the early 2000's, it was a reverse charge call to my parent to pick me up, and they always said no. I did get a lot of steps in.

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MisterrTickle@reddit

I used one about 6 years ago as I didn't have my phone with me and there werr 2 guys transferring a machete.

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usuallydramatic@reddit

I’m in my 30s, when I was a kid/teen we would travel abroad with my dad and use a pay phone to call my mum back home, if that counts. Other than that I don’t remember when if ever I’ve used a proper phone box here in the UK

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GreenDolphinGal@reddit

I was born in 1996 and I believe I have used one in my lifetime, probably when I was around 11/12

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colin_staples@reddit

Yes but not since around 1999 when I got my first mobile

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wroclad@reddit

Yes of course. Once upon a time, mobile phones did not exist.

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ChrisRandR@reddit

Yes I have.

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clrthrn@reddit

Yes but not since around the late 90s.

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mortusrd28t@reddit

Never to call anyone. I once sheltered from the rain and ate fish and chips in one 😂

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FletchLives99@reddit

Yes. Am old.

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seklas1@reddit

I’ve touched and pressed buttons of a payphone when I was a child (1996 born), but I have never personally used it to make a call, so whilst I’d probably figure out fairly quickly how to make a call if needed, I don’t actually know it from the top of my head.

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tennis_court1250@reddit

I am 30, and have used one twice. Both times as a teenager asking my parents to pick me up from the station after a night out. Despite the rumours, brick phones did occasionally run out of battery

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revrobuk1957@reddit

I got my first mobile in the mid nineties so sometime before that.

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InfiniteAstronaut432@reddit

Other than using the local payphone as a child in the 90s to prank call 0800 numbers, the last time I remember using one in the UK was in 2010. Staying in a small cottage in South Wales, where there was no phone signal, smartphones were in their infancy (neither me nor my partner had one at the time), the cottage didn't have Internet or Wi-Fi (and we had no device to connect to it even if it did) - our only way of contacting home was via the payphone 200 metres down the road. The last few times I've seen a phonebox, they've either been a defibrillator or a book-swap.

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shak_0508@reddit

Not once. I’m 24, so have had a smart phone since I was able to go out by myself.

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Mountain_Strategy342@reddit

Absolutely. But not in 2 decades

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Sudden_Hovercraft_56@reddit

definately in the 90's

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lilbunnygal@reddit

I think the last time I used a payphone was 2005 but I was travelling to the USA and didn't have a international plan. Does that count? I'm 41 btw

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