Cheating Duke of Edinburgh Award youngsters may have done residents in Keasden a great favour.

Some youngsters on the scheme had developed an aversion to cooking on camp fires and were ordering takeaways, Craven Area Committee was told.

So the scheme’s organisers had banned them from taking mobile phones with them.

The subterfuge emerged at the committee meeting when a petition was handed in by Ian Woodburn, from Mewith, against proposals to remove a telephone box.

Mr Woodburn had obtained a signatures from residents and visitors to Keasden opposing the removal of the phone kiosk outside the local church.

The petition states: “The kiosk outside St Matthew’s Church lies in a rural location close to crossroads giving access to remote hilly areas on the North Yorkshire/Lancashire border.

“It provides the first choice telephone access for day visitors, walkers and cyclists without mobile phones and groups of young people who visit the area on a regular basis as part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme.”

However, the petition goes on: “It may not be known to British Telecom that D of E award scheme organisers have recently banned the use of mobile phones because of a tendency for groups to order pizzas for delivery to their overnight camp sites in preference to cooking for themselves as specified.”

The petitioners were making the point that not everyone had access to a mobile phone and the phone box was a vital piece of survival kit in emergencies.

“Mobile phone coverage is not very good at the best of times in the district so even those with one may require to be able to use a standard telephone box at some occasion,” said Mr Woodburn.

Some residents used the phone box to report faults on their home telephones when they had no mobile phone coverage. The petition also states that British Telecom’s letter to the district council in May provided no data in support of the assertion that the kiosk was not being used sufficiently.

Coun David Ireton said he was concerned that an important service could go.

“It is a service provided for a rural community and I think that should be taken into consideration. This is a vital potential lifeline for residents and visitors to the district,” he said.

The committee agreed the phone box should be kept open and agreed to write to Craven District Council – which is collating representations.