BT Courtesy Phone

[FABphones]

This BT Courtesy Phone was received today in a job lot.

I haven't come across one of these before so know little about their history, but as far as I am aware they were not for sale, being temporarily issued to subscribers when their phone had to be taken in for repair. Instructions on the phone state 'Please Post Back to BT'.

This one still has it's label and appears to be little used/unused.

Unsure if the engineer carried these in his van or if they had to be ordered in when required (tubaman may know more).

[tubaman]

... (tubaman may know more).
 

Afraid I don't as I never worked on the domestic side of things.
I think they may have been for when a new line was installed to get the customer up and running while they sorted out their own phone, but that is only a guess.
 

[rdelius]

I have one in my collection

[FABphones]

Asking around ex-BT employees I am told this was indeed a loan phone. Engineers carried a few of these in their van. When an engineer was called out, if it was found to be the phone at fault the phone would be taken away for repair and one of these BT Courtesy  Phones left in it's place. The repaired phone would be posted back to the householder and the Courtesy Phone then returned by said householder to BT.
This was during the period when householders could purchase telephones from BT instead of paying a monthly rental (although officially the phone was 'not owned' by the purchaser).

The BT Piper logo was introduced in 1991 and was in use for 12 years before being replaced.