A pensioner is staging a sit-in protest and refusing to move from inside a telephone box near Billericay in a bid to stop it being removed.

The phone box on Church Street is set to be removed by BT after being downgraded to emergency use only.

The man, known locally as Rashid, sat inside the phone box in protest after contractors turned up to remove it despite 12 signatures objecting to the proposal.

The hashtag #prayforrashid quickly took off as Twitter users voiced their support of the pensioner's protest.

Rashid reportedly left the phone box just before 4.30pm, before getting back in to continue with his protest.