British authorities, take note that other countries have no difficulties in providing response centers to accidents/incidents etc.

Look and learn, Thames Valley, Metropolitan Police, PITO, Home Office, Foreign Office and the rest of the clueless government agencies - it is not difficult to provide a facility so that (1) the UK public is not ripped-off by your incompetence and (2) callers from overseas can actually get through. Easy peasy. The French authorities can cope but the British ones haven't got a clue.

In response to the accident at Toronto yesterday, Air France made the following available:

http://www.airfrance.co.uk/double6/passage3.nsf/(LookupPublishedWeb)/en-SIERA-accueil_sierra?OpenDocument

<<
Air France has established a passenger information centre, and a toll-free number is available for family and friends of those who may have been on board flight AF 358 The toll-free number is :
For those calling from France : 0 800 800 812
For those calling from outside : + 33 1 56 93 10 00
>>

The simplicity of this (unlike the Met, they can even get the international dialing format in the correct manner) is in stark contrast with the attempts by the UK authorities in response to the London bombings.

wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2005 at 1:16pm:

That link didn't stick - let me try: http://www.airfrance.co.uk/double6/passage3.nsf/(LookupPublishedWeb)/en-SIERA-accueil_sierra?OpenDocument Yes, that's got it.

Thanks for correcting the link.

Whilst on the subject of incompetence, I was reading last week that while Charles Clarke is sunning himself on holiday, the person now in charge of the Home Office is............HAZEL BLEARS!

Yeh - terrifying ain't it!!

wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2005 at 2:42pm:

Yeh - terrifying ain't it!!

Not as terrifying as Puncher Prescott standing in for Tony Blair!

Have you emailed Arnold (sorry I mean Stephen) Rimmer and Hazel Blears at the Home Office to point this out to them

wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2005 at 12:59pm:

The simplicity of this (unlike the Met, they can even get the international dialing format in the correct manner) is in stark contrast with the attempts by the UK authorities in response to the London bombings.

If anyone really wants to do it right in the UK though they should quote a domestic geographic number starting 01 or 02 (for mobile phone callers), an 0800 number and then an 00 800 number for those calling from overseas on fixed line calls.

Unlike domestic 0800 numbers these 00 800 numbers let you call from almost anywhere in the world free of charge on a landline.  I feel sure that Cable & Wireless would be well aware of their existsence. ;)

but I recon C&W wouldnt want to pay for them!

wrote on Aug 5^th, 2005 at 3:30pm:

but I recon C&W wouldnt want to pay for them!

I'm sure that C&W would be happy as long as their client (Pito and the Police) agreed to pay the extra cost and C&W received their usual revenue share or commission.

wrote on Aug 5^th, 2005 at 2:10pm:

If anyone really wants to do it right in the UK though they should quote a domestic geographic number starting 01 or 02 (for mobile phone callers), an 0800 number and then an 00 800 number for those calling from overseas on fixed line calls. Unlike domestic 0800 numbers these 00 800 numbers let you call from almost anywhere in the world free of charge on a landline.  I feel sure that Cable & Wireless would be well aware of their existsence. ;)

Sadly, +800 is not universally available - it tends to work from the 'developed' world and even then, some operators decline to route. Some operators will charge a premium rate too. +800 wouldn't really help with international termination as there needs to be a (more or less) guarantee of being able to call. Hence Air France knowing exactly what to do.

wrote on Aug 5^th, 2005 at 2:05pm:

Have you emailed Arnold (sorry I mean Stephen) Rimmer and Hazel Blears at the Home Office to point this out to them

Ms Blears is so utterly useless that it is a waste of time. I may well contact Mr Rimmer at the HO, especially in the light of its FOI appeal response it provided to me today which seems to acknowledge the problems with 0870. How on earth do ministers like Ms Blears get into this position? Staggering.

wrote on Aug 5^th, 2005 at 5:58pm:

How on earth do ministers like Ms Blears get into this position? Staggering.

Because in 1997 a whole lot of young inexperienced  Labour parliamentary candidates unexpectedly got elected.

Now they seem to have built themselves a career by just becoming hollow propaganda mouthpeaces who willingly spout "yes, yes Tony whatever you say I will do it without question".  Ruth Kelly seems to be another one from exactly the same mould.

By the way did you hear Tony Blair being asked a question at Prime Minister's question time about why Ofcom wasn't properly using their powers to stop millions of "Silent Calls" a week by uk telesales companies.  It seemed to catch him totally off balance.  He just said he would have to refer the matter for further advice.  Its clear that the man is totally ignorant of most telecoms issues.  If he understood them he would have been able to give a quick and smart looking reply.

wrote on Aug 5^th, 2005 at 6:11pm:

Because in 1997 a whole lot of young inexperienced  Labour parliamentary candidates unexpectedly got elected. Now they seem to have built themselves a career by just becoming hollow propaganda mouthpeaces who willingly spout "yes, yes Tony whatever you say I will do it without question".  Ruth Kelly seems to be another one from exactly the same mould. By the way did you hear Tony Blair being asked a question at Prime Minister's question time about why Ofcom wasn't properly using their powers to stop millions of "Silent Calls" a week by uk telesales companies.  It seemed to catch him totally off balance.  He just said he would have to refer the matter for further advice.  Its clear that the man is totally ignorant of most telecoms issues.  If he understood them he would have been able to give a quick and smart looking reply.

Yep aka the blair babes and blair lads. Some got ousted, some got sacked, reinstated, sacked, reinstated, sacked and now I think hes european commisoner on somthing! Oh and then theres the blind one (what a PR stunt, yeah lets give a blind man Home Secetary! Now look what we got. A Suspected drunk and someone who looks like a bully from school!)

Ruth Kelly is a blair babe, a person who will agree to anything and do anything shes told, she dont wanna loose that cushy £100k a year ish job and have the evil labour bandwagon on her)

*the views expressed in this post are just that, views. and should not be assumed as anything else.

wrote on Aug 5^th, 2005 at 11:58pm:

Ruth Kelly is a blair babe, a person who will agree to anything and do anything shes told, she dont wanna loose that cushy £100k a year ish job and have the evil labour bandwagon on her)

Ruth Kelly's most disgraceful moment came when she gave a long and totally immoral speech to try to justify the Labour government's failure to do anything at all to help the policyholders in Equitable Life and to try and blame the whole thing on the previous Tory government.

As my dad's pension was with Equitable Life and as my mother who depends on it (my dad sadly died before he could ever receive a penny of the pension) sees its value decreasing by the month I am a particularly ill disposed towards the said Ms Kelly.

Its good to hear that even some of you Labour party members can still see the faults in New Labour.  Don't worry though I can still see plenty of faults in my lot.  John Major and Ian Duncan Smith top the list of the all time Tory party hall of shame.

JM - Grey man
William Hague - Squeeky Babyface
IDS syndrome
Howard nee Vampire

I thought Vampires been the worst yet? Mind you he couldnt beat IDS

wrote on Aug 6^th, 2005 at 12:43am:

JM - Grey man William Hague - Squeeky Babyface IDS syndrome Howard nee Vampire I thought Vampires been the worst yet? Mind you he couldnt beat IDS

I always knew when we picked Howard to replace IDS that we would lose the next election.

Michael Portillo could have saved the party but half of my prejudiced colleagues couldn't see it.  If only Portillo hadn't lost his patience by deciding not to stand for re-election he would have been in with a good shot of getting the leadership this time.

Instead of which they talk of David Davies.  Another grey man.