Making a call in a BT phonebox has long been the norm – but answering the call of nature in one would usually be considered bad form.

But John Long has converted one of the most iconic symbols of Britain into one of the nation's most unusual toilets.

It is fully equipped with lavatory pan, washstand and what looks like frosted glass in the door panes.

It even has quirky features such as calling cards plastered to the walls and a red tennis ball on the end of the toilet chain that matches the striking decor.

He spent months planning the plumbing, and making sure all the porcelain would fit before buying the telephone box at a reclamation yard in Carhampton.

Surveying his work at his home near Taunton, Mr Long, 73, said: "It works very well indeed. I am very pleased with it and it's amazing how often I use it. We didn't have an outside loo, so when I'm out in my workshop it's ideal.

"I'd always wanted a red kiosk, so it seemed the natural thing to get one and convert it. Before I bought it I made sure that I could fit everything in. There is a red telephone kiosk 300 yards from where I live and I crept out after dark and carried a toilet pan down and measured up and hoped no one would see me.

"The kiosk was originally owned by BT of course, but before I bought it it had been in a nightclub for some time apparently. The washstand was a drinking fountain which I got at the same reclamation yard – and I used Fablon to create the 'frosted' glass."

It is the latest innovative use of a redundant village phone box to appear in the West.

The Somerset villages of Wells, Westbury-sub-Mendip and Blagdon have all converted phone boxes into libraries.

Across the country phone boxes have enjoyed renaissances as museums, village shops and even art galleries.

The people of Stourton in Wiltshire this week announced plans to convert their village phone box to house a defibrillator.

Stourton and Gasper Parish Council has adopted the box and intends to use its existing power supply to keep the lifesaving equipment charged.

In use the machine delivers a powerful but controlled electric shock to restore normal heartbeat to victims of cardiac arrest.

Parish council clerk Julie Morgan said: "We were just going through the rigmarole of adopting the phone box from BT when we received a flier from the charity that installs the defibrillator machines.

"It came along at just the right time because we really didn't want to lose the phone box and this gave us the idea for a use for it."

The innovative project has won the approval of Wiltshire Council which pledged a grant of £965 to the scheme at a meeting last week of its South West area board.

Red telephone boxes regularly topped polls as one of Britain's most iconic structures. The Post Office introduced the first phone boxes in the 1920s.

The public was so horrified by their poor design that three leading architects of the day were asked to come up with something better.

A design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who designed Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, was considered the best.

This design remained in use until 1984.