Life in the UK's mobile phone signal 'blackspots'
Trudi King-Gunn works in Eskdalemuir, a remote community in southern Scotland home to around 250 people, where cell reception is almost absent.
She said the main worry is reaching emergency help, noting past difficulty when residents tried to contact ambulance crews and when a village defibrillator was needed.
The issue comes as consumer group Which? reports Britain has the weakest mobile quality among G7 countries, with over a third of surveyed users citing poor reception.
Residents also fear the move from analogue landlines to digital-only connections could leave them isolated during outages, since backup batteries sustain phones for only two or three hours.
King-Gunn said she has strong reception four miles away, but in the village there is, as she put it, "just nothing." Villagers now hope power cuts stay brief and backup measures hold.
Key points
- Eskdalemuir in southern Scotland has about 250 residents and almost no signal.
- Which? ranks UK mobile quality poorest in G7; third report problems.
- Digital landlines plus short battery backup raise emergency isolation fears.