We have had a tragic acident on my local train line just outside of littleport, sorry to say but the farmer who was driving his tractor over the user activated level crossing was hit at 90mph.

However the BBC presenter was saying for concerned people to "call wagn on  0845 818 919, and for travel advice to call 0845 7 48 49 50 both calls are national rate numbers"

Still getting it wrong I see.

The more so since, with the sole exception of 0845 46 47 for NHS Direct, all 0845 numbers require seven digits after the 5. 0845 818 919 indeed. Dear oh dear.

wrote on Oct 19^th, 2005 at 7:18pm:

The more so since, with the sole exception of 0845 46 47 for NHS Direct, all 0845 numbers require seven digits after the 5. 0845 818 919 indeed. Dear oh dear.

Strange as it may seem, journalists are humans too and can make mistakes. What may be obvious to you (that there should be 7 digits) is not obvious to everybody.

They are right in one sense in that all 0845 numbers through a particular Telco are charged at the same rate, wherever you are calling from "nationally," its just that that rate varies from Telco to Telco.

In a way, it's far more accurate to call 0845 national rate than 0870. From a BT line in the daytime, 0845 is 3p/min, the same as (geographical) national calls. 0870, on the other hand, is a premium rate.

wrote on Oct 19^th, 2005 at 10:36pm:

What may be obvious to you (that there should be 7 digits) is not obvious to everybody.

Sorry, riding two hobbyhorses at once.
Tariffing confusion and also the lack of consistency in number layout, which adds to confusion. Were it not quite so bad then normal people (e.g. journalists :)) would spot the error(s) as part of normality.

journalists are not normal people! they are journalists!!!!