BIN lorries will be used to help find mobile signal ‘blackspots’ across Worcestershire.

Signal trackers are being fitted to a number of lorries to monitor mobile connectivity as they travel around the county.

Worcestershire County Council is also asking residents to help by reporting areas with poor mobile signal.

Adam Kent, the council’s cabinet member for economy and skills, said the signal in some areas is worse than it was 12 months ago.

In an economy overview and scrutiny meeting on Thursday (October 3) he said: “We’re going to put trackers on the back of the bin lorries throughout the whole of Worcestershire, to take a snapshot of what the mobile signal is in all these areas.

“The desire is for us to understand exactly where those weak spots are.

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“We all know, if you drive down that road and you’re on a hands-free call, it will drop from ‘there’ to ‘there’. And those are the bits we’ve got to fill in - because that’s what kills businesses.”

Cllr Kent said people will know they have to end calls because they are entering a certain village or area without signal.

“These things really do affect us. And they can change on a day as well.

“Telecoms companies can shift their bandwidth to suit, if the motorway’s busy. So it might be you can usually have a call in that location all the time, but suddenly on a Friday afternoon you can’t.

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“It’s very embarrassing when a call drops six times when you’re trying to talk to somebody and sometimes you feel embarrassed that you live in a rural area.

“We’re going to update the website with a Report It function so residents can report these hotspots and we’re going to take this data back to the mobile operators and see what we can do to actually fix the problem.”

The county council is also using a mobile transmitter to boost the signal at big events such as those at Malvern Showground and music festivals in Upton.

Cllr Kent said this allows traders to take credit card payments on their phones.