And more:
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4671239.stmA minister has pledged a swift review of the 40p-a-minute charges for ringing the London bombs emergency phone line.
Home Office minister Hazel Blears said she wanted to make it free, adding: "The last thing we want to do is to add to people's distress."
Telecoms regulator Ofcom says using an 0870 number is "inappropriate". Ms Blears said the 0870 line was picked because it can take 200 calls at once.
Callers pay 10p a minute from landlines and 40p from mobiles.
Asked about the cost, Ms Blears told the BBC: "That line was originally set up because it could take two hundred calls at once while the other line would only have been able to take 40 calls, but I am concerned about this.
"You know the last thing we want to do is to add to people's distress, so we are going to review the situation very quickly indeed.
"If we'd have just had the normal line, then people could have faced the prospect of getting the engaged single and that would have been dreadful."
Casualty line
Guidelines suggest public service bodies be wary of using the code partly because of cost and partly because it cannot always be accessed by people calling from abroad.
The casualty bureau line was organised by the government-funded Police Information and Technology Organisation (PITO), which provides communications services for the police.
An Ofcom spokesman said: "When we became aware that an 0870 number was being used we contacted the Metropolitan Police, PITO and the Home Office."
The number was provided by Cable & Wireless which said it had offered PITO a free 0800 number and a cheaper rate 0845 number.
Cable & Wireless pledged to donate any profits it made from the calls to charities working with the families of the bombing victims.
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London Blasts - Using 0870 as Emergency Number (Read 352,712 times)
