The new "non emergency number" 101 is being trialled in several areas of the country. Leicester City Council included a four-page guide in the middle of this month's Link magazine, which you can read here:
http://www.leicester.gov.uk/EasySite/lib/serveDocument.asp?doc=37093&pgid=50640

I also visited the website, 101.gov.uk, and if you go to the page showing the 101 areas, when you choose one of the areas, it says for example:

Quote:

If you need an update on a case but are calling from outside of the Leicester City and Rutland 101 area, call the Leicester City and Rutland 101 contact centre on 0116 222 8350.

So for the five initial trial areas it gives geographical numbers, which presumably connect to the local 101 call centre. Will these numbers still be published when 101 goes national? I doubt it. Anyway, for the record, the current geographical non-emergency numbers are:

Cardiff: 029 2026 7078
Hampshire and Isle of Wight: 023 8042 6101
Leicester City and Rutland: 0116 222 8350
Northumberland and Tyne and Wear: 0191 203 7000
Sheffield: 0114 261 0622

I'm sure everyone wants to be a good citizen and report, "Vandalism, graffiti... Abandoned vehicles...Rubbish and litter, including fly tipping... Problems with street lighting... etc." but who wants to pay 10p every time when they are already paying a hefty monthly fee to a phone provider for free geographical calls?

Quote:

How much will it cost to call 101? Calls to the 101 service will be charged at a fixed rate of 10p per call, whether from landlines or mobiles. This decision was taken following consultation with a wide group of stakeholders and research with the public. The research showed that a small fixed charge would not put people off calling the service. It was the preference of our stakeholders and the professional advice of experts to charge 10p per call as this will reduce the likelihood of the service being abused. The call charge will go to the telecom providers to offset the cost to them of carrying calls. We intend to review the tariff once the service is in operation and has been evaluated, and we aim to make it free to call 101 as soon as possible.

10p per call reduces the likelihood of the service being abused, but abuses those who choose an inclusive call package by being anti-competitive.

But, it goes on to say that "we aim to make it free to call 101 as soon as possible." How does that fit in with the above?  :-?

It doesn't have to be free, but why can't it be treated the same as a geographical call? I notice there is also no mention of phone boxes here. I bet it doesn't cost just 10p from there, and that the new minimum phone box charge of 40p will apply. So it's 10p from any phone, but only where it costs more so is to their advantage.

I thought the idea of 101 was to cut down on misuse of 999? But now they are charging for 101 to prevent abuse of this number. Perhaps they should have just started to charge 10p for 999. As is it, aren't people simply going to dial 999 to avoid paying 10p? They definitely will if they are calling from a phone box.