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There is no mobile coverage on over 4,500 miles of Britain’s roads, charity warns

The lack of reception means motorists cannot call for help in the event of an accident

Neil Lancefield
Monday 30 November 2015 01:17 GMT
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People push a car stuck on the A93 Braemar to Glenshee road, one of the stretches of road that has been found to have no mobile phone coverage
People push a car stuck on the A93 Braemar to Glenshee road, one of the stretches of road that has been found to have no mobile phone coverage

There is no mobile coverage on over 4,500 miles of Britain’s roads, where motorists cannot call for help, a motoring charity has warned.

A study by the RAC Foundation, based on data published by Ofcom, found 4,561 miles of roads – about 2 per cent of the network – do not have 2G coverage, which is the minimum required to make a call or send a text in case of breakdown.

These stretches of road include the A149 in East Anglia, A591 in Cumbria, A93 in Scotland and A494 in Wales.

A further 28,975 miles have partial 2G coverage, meaning only certain mobile operators provide a signal.

Motorists who rely on their smartphones to access the internet for route planning and to check for congestion could get into difficulty on 14,554 miles of road (around 6 per cent) where there is a complete absence of 3G coverage, the study found. And an additional 111,679 miles – some 45 per cent – is only covered for 3G by some operators.

In terms of 4G, more than half (56 per cent) of the road network has no coverage.

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