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Metropolitan Police Mk5

R

realboxmike

Member
I hope the following notes may be of interest to anyone who would like to know more about the Mk5s:

The Mk5-203 Police Boxes were first envisaged during 1953 (13 May 53) when tenders were invited for a single production run of 115 Boxes to replace worn-out units and for installing on new housing estates etc. The successful tenderer was Messrs Stuart Granolithic (Head Office 105 Baker Street W1) at a total cost of £16, 410.00sh.00d (£164.08sh complete per-Box). On completion, only 113 were supplied as two were damaged during dispatch from the foundry.  Of these 96 were actually brought into service with 17 held in store, unpainted and for emergency use only should the need arise. On the 19 May 66, with no further obvious police use for them, these 17 Boxes were sold to the Thames Water Board (at a knock down price I guess!) who operated them as general call points at the Crossness Sewage Works. Four of these of still in situ and have been locally listed by Bexley Council, but not by English Heritage!!

The first Mk5-202  entered service on the 12 Jun 54 as a direct replacement for Box M12 (But would only last just over a year in service) before Kennington Road Police Station, on who's forecourt it was situated was re-opened.

The last Mk5-203 entered service on the 13 Jul 65 to replace Box T38 which was damaged during resiting due to roadworks.

If you give me a little, I should hopefully be able to furnish a full list/details of all Mk5-203s

EDIT: Stickied the Topic - hb88banzai
 
Thanks so much for this Mike!

So many questions answered in one go :).

I was very much hoping we could work up a complete list of which Boxes were replaced by Mk 5s, as well as which were initially installed only as Mk 5s.
 
At long last I can now start posting information on the individual Police Boxes that were replaced by Mk5s or newly commissioned sites:

R-Z Divisions to follow

A-P Divisions:

Box No. Location Date Mk5 in service Reason(s)
C64 Park Lane 17/09/62 Resiting/roadworks
D75 Lisson Grove 12/09/59 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
F6 Westway 11/06/67 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
F11 Wood Lane 17/11/63 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
J6 Eastway 08/10/64 Resiting/roadworks
J11 Cambridge Park Road 11/04/64 Resiting/roadworks
J20 Walthamstow Avenue 13/05/63 Resiting/roadworks
J24 Rangers Road 24/05/61 Resiting/roadworks
J25 Kings Head Hill 16/08/59 Resiting/roadworks
J28 Paternoster Hill 18/09/58 New Box site (vacant No. of Upshire Box removed 11/09/58)
J31 High Road Woodford 11/04/63 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
J46 New North Road 11/09/62 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
J51 Victoria Park Road 13/03/64 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
J52 Chigwell Lane 09/06/56 Resiting/roadworks
J53 Manford Way 12/06/63 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
K2 High Street North 11/02/61 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
K6 Longbridge Road 11/01/57 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
K18 Eastern Ave/Barley Ln 13/03/60 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
K19 E Ave/Whalebone Ln 11/10/60 Resiting/roadworks
K20 High Rd/Whalebone Ln 11/04/59 Resiting/roadworks
K42 Appleby Road 02/04/55 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
M7 Maynard Road 02/01/66 Poor condition of Mk4 Box (to storage as spares recovery)
M12 Kennington Road 12/06/54 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
M19 Reculver Road 23/12/59 New Box site
N1 Kentish Town Road 29/01/61 New Box site (Post N1 was on opp side of Jct)
N7 Seven Sisters Road 11/08/55 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
N17 Holloway Road 24/10/56 New Box site
P20 Bromley Road 22/06/67 Resiting/roadworks
P22 Downham Way 11/02/62 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
P26 High St West Wickham 04/04/59 Resiting/roadworks
P28 Beckenham Road 16/01/62 Resiting/roadworks
P47 Catford Hill 11/01/55 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
P48 Salt Box Hill 12/04/64 Poor condition of Mk4 Box
 
Great stuff!

Well worth the wait - thanks!  :)


EDIT: Small question though Mike - where did you get the info that they were Mark 4's that were being replaced?

The many references in the "Reasons" column to "Poor condition of Mk 4 Box" seems out of kilter with what we seem to know (or at least have deduced) about the lineage. I mean, most Mark 4's were themselves rather late to the game (WWII or later - or so we thought), so they shouldn't have been that bad off as to condition compared to the older Marks.

Seemed like most Mark 5's were replacing earlier types, especially Mark 2's (with most Mark 1's already having been replaced with Mark 3's or Mark 4's by about 1950 or so). In short,  I'm really hoping this isn't a Philip K. Dick moment, where everything we thought we knew turns out to be wrong (though usually turns out to be right again the next moment, or just a bit sideways, so maybe I am hoping for that).
 
Hmmm - I just had occasion to look at F11 again (http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=3811.0), and there appears to be a problem with it in this Mark 5 list.

Mike, though your list above says F11 was replaced by a Mark 5 in Nov 1963, we seem to have images of it as still the original Mark 3 from a good deal later than that. Specifically, one pic is tagged as from 1968 (I believe from a film, but don't remember off hand which one), and another is a capture of a scene in the ITV series "Man in a Suitcase" that's from some time not long before its air date of 01 Nov 1967 (Ep 6, "Man from the Dead").

Is it possible there was a typo in the list and it should read 17/11/68 instead of 17/11/63?


EDIT: Found a possibly similar situation with J20 at Crooked Billet, Walthamstow. Mk 5 list says it was replaced on 12 May 1963, but Pete just recently found a colour photo that's dated as from 1968 http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=3791.msg107054#msg107054. I don't know enough about British cars to see if there are any in that pic that can confirm the dating, however.

EDIT 2: Now Pete has found a 1968 photo of J34 in Chingford Hatch as a definite Mk5 at that point (and quite worn, at that), yet it doesn't appear on the above Mk 5 List at all.
 
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