Community leaders in a south Devon village are planning to build a concrete platform so those wanting to use their mobile phones can climb up and use it to pick up a network signal.

The 200 residents of East Prawle can't get coverage from any of the mobile phone networks. But after a holidaymaker discovered that an Orange transmitter could be reached by standing on a bench beside the public toilets and facing west, locals and tourists alike have been queueing up to try the latest wireless technology.

So popular has the bench proved, it now has to be replaced with something more robust, so the locals are investing £100 in a concrete platform high enough to stand on and connect to the Orange network.

How tall one has to be to pick up the signal isn't recorded, but East Prawle will need to be careful to steer clear of accusations of heightism if its platform isn't high enough for the vertically challenged. ®

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