Mobile phone masts 'found' in petrol station forecourts

Hundreds of mobile phone masts have been secretly installed in petrol station forecourts throughout the country, according to the Sun.

The newspaper, which usually focuses on erections of a very different kind, revealed today that Shell has allowed transmitters to be put up at more than 200 of its 1,100 filling stations in the UK. Texaco has a more modest 20.

According to the report, the masts have been installed in the pillars which display petrol prices. The only clue that they are there is a small light at the top.

Shell, which has a deal with T-Mobile, refused to tell the paper where the transmitters are, "for reasons of commercial confidentiality".

Neither company would say how much the operators have paid for the installations.

Actor Eric Richard, who played Sgt Bob Cryer in The Bill, is well-known for his anti-mast campaigning efforts, and told The Sun: "Why are they being so secretive about it? They tell us the masts are safe and no different to telegraph poles. Then why do we have to have this sort of nonsense? Why do they need to hide them?"

The mobile operators have been trying to erect masts in an environmentally sensitive way for some time. As well as the well-known trick of piggy backing on church spires, one operator is rumoured to have gone as far as disguising a mast as a tree somewhere in Cambridge - complete with fake owl.

There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that mobile phone masts emit dangerous levels of radiation, as Shell was quick to point out.