Was it possible to get locked in a telephone booth?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ALostInquirer@lemm.ee⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

So, I basically missed that transitional phase when telephone booths were more commonplace. This has left me with a number of questions about the ol’ telephone booths, but this one strikes me as one of the funnier and more unnerving ones to ask.

Was it possible to get locked in a telephone booth? Did some models have locks to keep folks from messing with them? If so, who…Would manage the locks? Local authorities & the phone companies?

Were there any notable stories of a person somehow getting trapped in a telephone booth in otherwise ordinary circumstances (i.e. no disaster had struck)?

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BrokebackHampton@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Boy do I have a movie for you

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NormDeplume@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
There were no locks of the booths, and phones were in fact occasionally stolen. But it was generally not worth the hassle, and so there were no locks. Plus they were meant to be accessible 24/7.

Finally, many times the phones weren’t in the booth and we’re just mounted to a wall. The booth was to give you some theoretical privacy and reduce background noise, that’s about it.

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- ALostInquirer@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Thanks! Fwiw in this context I’m thinking of the outdoor, completely(?) enclosed type of booths, but your reply includes those as well I gather.
  
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  - Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    In Australia, our telephone booths didn’t have doors at all. Just a box like the size of a portaloo with s phone in it
    
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NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
In my region it was a common prank among youths to lock people there by driving your car very closely up to the door :-)

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