Motoring organisation telephone

Motoring organisation telephones are telephones at the roadside which were installed by the motoring organisations the AA and the RAC.

History

Sentry boxes

The AA installed the first roadside sentry boxes in 1911, they were originally to provide shelter for their patrols who travelled on bicycles, and later motorbikes, while they were out on the road. They had phones installed to allow patrols to contact base.

In around 1920 members were issued with keys for the boxes so they too could use the facilities in the boxes and summon help in the event of a breakdown. In addition to the telephones the boxes contained other equipment such as lamps, fire extinguishers and local maps which were available for members to use. As well as calling for breakdown assistance, members were permitted to use the telephones to call other numbers whilst on their travels, local calls were free of charge but trunk calls made via the operator either had to be made by reversing the charges or relied on the honesty of the members to leave the correct payment for the call in the box.

Eventually the phones in the boxes were replaced with ones with preset numbers to dial, usually the AA, RAC and 999. Reciprocal agreements allowed members of either the AA or RAC to use the other organisation's telephones.

Modern designs

The last sentry box style telephone kiosks were installed by the organisations in the 1960s, in the 1970s newer designs of roadside telephone were introduced to replace many of the older boxes, similar to the emergency roadside telephones provided on motorways, although in some locations these were provided in glass kiosks. In the late 1980s the final phones were installed, by this time similar to the modern ERTs, and the number of traditional sentry boxes left had reduced from around 1000 to around 20.

Withdrawal

In 2002 the AA announced that it was going to stop providing its network of phones as they had become used so infrequently with the rise in use in mobile phones. Around 300 of the 500 phones which remained at this time and were located on trunk roads were passed onto the relevant trunk road authorities to maintain. Most of these have been re-branded as SOS phones and are connected to the police or traffic control in the same manners as other ERTs.

It is thought that 21 of the original AA sentry boxes remain in situ at the roadside, most of these are now listed buildings and, although some have been restored by local communities, many are in various states of disrepair. A list of these is below. It is thought that no RAC boxes remain in their original locations.

Other examples of AA and RAC telephones and boxes exist in museums or private collections away from their original location.

List of remaining AA boxes in Original Locations

Image	Box No.	Name	On road(s)	County	Location	Information
	504	Ardgay Box	A836/B9176	Ross-shire	NH633872	Restored in 2008 Listed:LB49298 (Cat B)
	746	Loch Allen Box	A939/A940	Morayshire	NJ005388	Listed:LB49222 (Cat B)
	631	Brachla Box	A82	Inverness-shire	NH561329	Listed:LB49223 (Cat B)
	472	Cambus O'May Box	A93	Aberdeenshire	NO426976	Restored in 2009 by local community. Listed:LB49218 (Cat C)
	753	Glen Dye Box	B974	Kincardineshire	NO650891
	714	Threapland Box	A96	Morayshire	NJ290611	Listed:LB49230 (Cat B)
	723	Cappercleuch Box	A708	Selkirkshire	NT240231	Listed:LB49228 (Cat B)
	573	Garrowby Box	A166	Yorkshire	SE786566	Listed:1251697 (Grade II)
	442	Aysgarth Box	A684	Yorkshire	SE026888	Listed:1302200 (Grade II)
	372	Mere Box	A50/A556	Cheshire	SJ727817	Listed:1139490 (Grade II)
	817	Beadnell Box	B1340	Northumberland	NU229294	Listed:1234878 (Grade II)
	487	Dunmail Raise Box	A591	Westmorland	NY330110	Listed:1367182 (Grade II)
	456	Halfway House Box	A3052	Devon	SY048903	Listed:1140424 (Grade II)
	137	Porlock Box	A39	Somerset	SS841462	Listed:1345414 (Grade II)
	530	Brancaster Box	A149	Norfolk	TF789442	Listed:1239792 (Grade II)
	580	Boduan Box	A497	Caernarfonshire	SH324378	Listed:14430 (Grade II)
	289	Devil's Bridge Box	A4120/B4574	Cardiganshire	SN741770	Listed:84246 (Grade II)
	161	Nantyffin Box	A40/A479	Brecknockshire	SO198198	Listed:87808 (Grade II)

List of remaining AA boxes in Other Locations

Image	Box No.	Name	Original road(s)	Original County	Current Location	Information
	44	Bucks Green			Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre
	45	Derry Hill Box			Avoncroft National Phone Museum, Bromsgrove
	73	Wish Tower, The Thicket			Eastbourne Seafront
	121	Dotterel Box			AA,Basingstoke
	162	Highnam Box			Avoncroft National Phone Museum, Bromsgrove
	242	Andoversford Box	Former A40 / A436 junction in Andoversford - Location	Gloucestershire	Toddington Station, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam Railway line
	374	Maerdy Box			Coventry Motor Museum
	321	Legions Cross Box	A44	Herefordshire	Eardisland, Herefordshire	Now restored and located approximately 1 mile north east of its original location on the line of the former A44 in Eardisland, Herefordshire. Claimed to be the oldest original AA box in the country.
	398	Entercommon Box			Haddenham
	446				Private Garden in Sleaford
	535	Carterway Heads			Beamish Museum
	553	Newby Bridge			Lakeland Motor Museum
	59(2?)				Cotswold Motoring Museum, Boughton-on-the-Water
	645	Loughbrickland Box			Ulster Folk Transport Museum
	710	Fiddleton Toll				Private collection, Worcestershire. Filmed in 2022 on Shed & Buried TV programme
	739				Grampian Transport Museum, Alford
	751	Inverary Box			Glasgow Museum of Transport
	920	Maidstone Motorway	A20	Kent	Beaulieu Motor Museum

List of remaining RAC boxes in Other Locations

Image	Box No.	Name	Original road(s)	Original County	Current Location	Information
	171	Chelston			The RAC Motor House at the Old Barn, Woodcote Park ( moved in 2016 )	photo Motor Museum, Gaydon
	172	Sparkford	A303		Avoncroft Telephone Museum
	178	Golden Cross			Avoncroft Telephone Museum
		Hollow Fosse	A429	Gloucestershire	East Anglian Transport Museum, Carlton Colville, Suffolk
		Potters Corner			Dover Telephone Museum
		Gillingham Cross Roads	A30		East Anglian Transport Museum, Carlton Colville, Suffolk
	170	Birdingbury	A423		Caister Castle Museum
	344	Smalley	A608 52.975766, -1.409197		Skellow Rd, Carcroft, Doncaster	53.5813799,-1.18
	545	Halnaker	A285		Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre

Links

The AA

• AA Roadside Telephone Boxes  November 2014

BBC News

• End of road for AA call boxes  18.09.2002 (archive.org)

• One of Britain's last AA telephone boxes saved  17.10.20 (archive.org)