50% SAY BAN MOBILES IN PUBLIC

ALMOST half of all Britons want mobile phones banned from cinemas, hospitals, trains, buses and other public places, according to a new poll.

And a third of the people who were quizzed say their enjoyment has been ruined by someone's mobile going off.

More than six in 10 non-mobile-phone owners want the ban - and so do 45 per cent of people who DO have one.

However, tolerance levels in Britain, where there are 28million mobiles, are higher than other European countries, according to the international survey.

France and Canada are considering new laws which would jam the signal in public areas - a move backed by 85 per cent of the French public.

In Finland, home of Nokia mobiles, seven in 10 people want a public ban, and in Italy, where 80 per cent of people own mobiles, the figure is even higher.

Jamming systems are illegal in Britain, and Tom Perrott of TNS Telecoms says support for a ban must be weighed against the disruption that jamming could cause in emergencies.

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