Jonty WareingIt's mine, I tell you. My own. My precious.
Do I have the keys? No. Can we pick the lock? Also no.
I contacted a company who stocks spares for UK payphones, asking them to send me a set of keys to try.
They replied with "That will not be possible" and the following photo.
lpbkdotnet@jonty I think those are all for the customer-premises types of payphone (solitaire etc) - they all seem to be tubular locks
I'm not sure about the generation you've got, but earlier payphone keys wereregional, so each telecom region had their own set of bittings.
I expect yours is similar, so if there is any way to narrow down where it was originally installed - and then you try some of the ex-BT staff facebook groups, you might luck out and find someone who didn't return their keys?
@lpbkdotnet Yep, we realised that too!
This phone came from Bath (we've even found the phonebox), but I'm not sure I can be bothered to chase engineers. We know the lock was changed in 2007 as we did some keyhole surgery to extract the logbook.
@jonty Oh it's that one!
I had wondered who won it.
Unfortunately, although I do know a few current and ex engineers from the westcountry, none of them were in Bath as far as I know.
However, I "might" know someone who knows someone... It may come to nothing, but it can't hurt to ask.
I had previously asked someone who I know used to steal cash from payphones in the early 90s how they got in
Unfortunately their methods were horrifically destructive - so not a suitable approach here!
@jonty sadly I drew a blank on the keys
However, they did offer me these locks which look like they "might" be the right fit
They've had the pins removed, so will operate with a screwdriver - but (assuming they fit) will still hold the case shut without looking too "wrong"
Let me know if you want these spares as a backup option in case you end up with no options apart from drilling.
It might be more fun to lend it to the EMF locksport village as a challenge though?
@lpbkdotnet Oh yes please! I kind of wanted it functioning for EMF so we'll see how desperate I get...
Megan@jonty @lpbkdotnet Love the fediverse for conversations like this one!
@jonty I'll see what I can sort out. It may take a week or two for me to be in the same place as the locks - but I'll send them your way when I can.
I don't expect they'll cost enough for me to be worried about passing the costs on - but I'll let you know if they're above that threshold.