Just had to call this floodline number 0845 9881188, did a search on here but couldnt find any.

~ Edited by Dave: Thread title amended

http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/floodline/index.htm
What is Floodline?
Floodline is a 24-hour telephone information service operated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in Scotland and by the Environment Agency in England and Wales.  Calls to Floodline are charged at local rate.     WRONG!!


S.E.P.A , the provider of Floodline is based at Erskine Court , Castle Business Park , Stirling , FK9 4TR
http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/contact/index.htm
They are based at SEPA's Corporate office in Stirling - switchboard: 01786 457700, Fax: 01786 448040

Thankyou, I havent tried that number yet but I will do when I have to call again :)

Just tried (what I guess are) Environment Agency numbers: 01709 389200 through to 299.

250 through to 299 are all not recognised.

I'm not too sure about A Very Nice Man's post that Floodline is operated from SEPA's offices.

01709 389194 & 5 are Mowlem

[edit]Just found this page on Wolverhampton City Council's website:


Quote:

Floodline is a 24 hour telephone information service operated by the Environment Agency in England and Wales and by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in Scotland (All calls are charged at local rate).

[/edit]

Hi, I wonder does anyone have a geographical alternative (or Freephone)for the Floodline NGN (0845 988 1188) of the Environment Agency?   There was quite severe flooding in neighbouring villages last night and it seems to add insult to injury that people with concerns about flooding should have to call a premium rate no in connection with this (particularly as there are credible allegations of Enviroment Agency neglect/lack of concern contributing to the problem)?   Any help would be gratefully received so I can pass it on via the local council.   Thanks.

08459 881188 - clever isn't it, the 11 in the middle is the river and the 88 each side are the banks - get it?

Anyway, I may be wrong but I think this may be one of the very few cases where an 0845 number is properly used for intelligent routing.  I recall the same number being broadcast for flooding in Scotland recently - so it may be that, depending on a caller's location, the call is routed to their semi-local centre.

Just a thought.

No joy with 01786 457700 - 799

Another direct number at SEPA is 01786 455980

Not found on 01786 455900 - 999

Also: 01786 4524xx and 25xx

Not found on 452400 - 599

It would be good to locate the 01/02 number(s) for Floodline, what with the current weather the public must be spending a fortune on this number.

I recently received a letter from Floodline asking me to update some out-of-date details or they would be deleted...the number to call?  08459 881188!  Finding that you guys haven't had any luck in getting a number I have emailed them with my updated details and said that I will only call them if they provide me with an 01 or 02 number.  They're "going to get back to me" - I'll post the alternative number should I be so lucky as to receive one!

Hi.  When I call I get through to MM call centre in Bangor, Northern Ireland.  May help.  If anyone finds anything, please post.

The EA got back to me after my 'complaint' - I guess this must be a fairly standard response:

The Environment Agency said on 21.02.2008:
"Part of the reason for using a non-geographical number is that we operate our Floodline contact centres over a number of sites.  By using an 0845 number we can re-route incoming calls more easily and have more flexibility when managing calls from our customers.  This is especially important during flood events when there are high call volumes.  

0845 numbers are not reliant on a geographic location and therefore not at risk or local failures.  It is also a safe guard if there is a fault on certain networks and lines.  

Floodline provides general advice to the public before, during and after a flood event.  If a caller requires specific local information the agent will attempt to transfer them to their local area office, determined by the caller’s postcode.  It is for this reason that a geographical equivalent number can not be provided as each caller would need a separate number depending on their location."

It would appear to me that they really aren't concerned about the cost incurred to service users, which is a bit disappointing.

I think you should get to them and ask them why they haven't got an 03 number yet? That way, they have all the flexibility of an 08xx number but without incurring a cost to us to call them.

Hi there.

Couldn't resist adding a few comments on this, as I'm one of the folk who works with one of the government agencies which operates Floodline.

The Environment Agency (EA) comments are spot on, the reason for non-geographic numbers really IS for service resilience. Neither it nor the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) receives any income from the telephone service, quite the opposite in fact. The 0845 number subsidises most landline callers, and an 0800 number would be genuinely impossible to finance from the public purse, as well as being inoperable for cellphone callers.

Floodline's Scottish service is operated by SEPA, and the Stirling area code numbers quoted in other posts are completely wrong . SEPA's HQ is in Stirling, but its contact centre is in Perth. I would not recommend calling its listed number as it will route to a local operational office, not able to handle any serious volume of calls, so urgent flooding information callers required could not be met.

Floodline calls to SEPA (and the EA's regional communication centres) are routed from a shared call centre in Bangor, Northern Ireland. This is operated by Teleperformance (previously MMT), who also provide further service back-up to both agencies during major flooding events.

The website listed is also wrong. The right ones are:
Scotland - www.sepa.org.uk/flooding
England/Wales - http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/floodwarning/

Hope that's helpful.
cheers
:)

Sorry, meant to add that, despite the cost implications, both SEPA and the EA do offer 0800 numbers for their shared emergency pollution reportline 0800 80 70 60

These go directly to their communication centres, then redirected to local offices.

This would be totally unaffordable for Floodline unfortunately.

:(

Then why not use an 03 number??

Also geo numbers CAN supply the facilities that 084/087 do, if EA do subsidy the 0845 number then shame on them, there are plenty of suppliers who would supply a number at least free of charge and keep the income generated, as it is from your response it would appear that the EA are paying the telco and the telco are keeping all the revenue share!!

No one is asking for a freephone,(0800), number!

Spot on Derrick - we aren't asking for an 0800 number, but one that is cheaper to call than an 084x number!

There is now no excuse for government agencies to continue to use 0845 numbers when 03 numbers are available. They are at no cost to us to call (over and above what it would cost to call a landline) and provide exactly the same resilience functionality that Floodline needs when there are lots of calls to it during an emergency.

Virgin Media customers would still have to pay for the calls so we want an 02 number please!

Why? Virgin Media customers should not be paying for 03 numbers if their 01/02 numbers are free. 03 numbers are meant to be charged at the same rates as 01/02 numbers, and included in any inclusive free minutes. If this is not the case, you need to report Virgin Media to Ofcom.

They are regarded as non geographic and as such incur a charge of 3p per minute plus connection of 7p.

Maybe a good reason not to be with money-grabbing Virgin Media  ::).

However, for the benefit of everyone else who should have 03 numbers charged at 01/02 rates, the EA has no excuse for not changing over to those numbers.

Good news is that it would appear that 03 numbers are now included.  Hope so.  

jimbo2005 wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2008 at 11:26pm:

They are regarded as non geographic and as such incur a charge of 3p per minute plus connection of 7p.

From their website; -http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/service.do?id=3&buspart=buyat
 Click on any of the  "view details"

Unlimited* calls to UK landlines (that's numbers beginning with 01, 02 or 03)

You can reach Flood Line by dialling 029 20245000, option 2. It will put you through to the Floodline. There's the usual lies about the Floodline 0845 number being "local rate" and call to this number being "national rate".  ::) ::)

Good find Dave. Doesn't surprise me regarding their "local" and "national" rate lies...

Folks, a bit less of the mildly agressive sounding and ill informed accusations of 'lies', eh? Reasoned argument & debate using knowledge is surely the civilised approach, not conclusion-jumping and insult hurling!  :o

First off, the number Dave suggested will connect you to a call centre, but you won't be able to use it to access any of the Floodline quickdial codes directly. So anybody wanting to access their known local floodwarning scheme shortcut will only be slowed down by this, especially during a busy flooding event, quite probably increasing the cost (hopefully only telephonic) to themselves. So fair play to him but I hope this extra info helps adds another piece to the jigsaw.

Floodline was set up as an 0845 number in all good faith by folk seeing to help protect people. The 03, fixed price and inclusive telecoms deals did not exist then, and 0845 was a way to make calling Floodline MORE affordable to most. (Surely you remember the structure of 'national' and 'local' call rates that BT operated? Unless you lived near where the call centre was situated it would have cost more to contact a geographic number than the 0845).

That said, telecoms has moved on and yes, the 03 numbers should be, and are being, looked at. However  a huge amount of public money has been invested in the 0845 number being published, remembered and used by people all over the UK. National, regional and local leaflets, adverts, directory listings, emergency service contact listings, media, etc etc blah blah all now have the 0845 number in circulation. To change that without considering safety first, and the best use of taxpayer's money second would be irresponsible.

I don't live in a flood risk area but, if I was, I know I'd rather effort were concentrated on making sure Floodline provides timely and accurate accessible advice to those in need. rather than subsidising it to such a degree that every UK taxpayer pays more, but the service potentially suffers.

I feel strongly about this because I work in the 'Warning and Informing' field of government comms, and know the real pressures which exist on the service every day. The folk involved (like me, although I don't handle telephony!) aren't commercial rip-off merchants. Mostly we are damned hard-working fairly stressed individuals trying to provide the best service to the end user, for the least expense to the public purse, which is no easy task!

Please, don't lump us in with the 0870 cash-grabbers in the commercial world.

Over and out from me, thanks for listening!
:-X

mirthman wrote on Mar 25^th, 2008 at 12:42am:

Floodline was set up as an 0845 number in all good faith by folk seeing to help protect people. The 03, fixed price and inclusive telecoms deals did not exist then, and 0845 was a way to make calling Floodline MORE affordable to most. (Surely you remember the structure of 'national' and 'local' call rates that BT operated? Unless you lived near where the call centre was situated it would have cost more to contact a geographic number than the 0845).

The final nail in the coffin went into these call plans in 2004. Prior to that, more and more people were moving towards these tariffs and onto chargeable tariffs where local and national calls were the same.

So why does Floodline still mislead callers four years later? Why has the message not been re-recorded? It's to be hoped that the information on flooding is a damn sight more up to date than this!


mirthman wrote on Mar 25^th, 2008 at 12:42am:

That said, telecoms has moved on and yes, the 03 numbers should be, and are being, looked at. However  a huge amount of public money has been invested in the 0845 number being published, remembered and used by people all over the UK. National, regional and local leaflets, adverts, directory listings, emergency service contact listings, media, etc etc blah blah all now have the 0845 number in circulation. To change that without considering safety first, and the best use of taxpayer's money second would be irresponsible.

What absolute rubbish! The existing 0845 number does not need to be withdrawn any time soon. Simply introduce a 03 number and run it along side the 0845 number. New leaflets and publicity material should promote the 03 number.

I should point out that no, I don't remember a time when 0845 was local rate and 0870 was national rate (that was a time before I got into telephony and this malarkey :)) but the fact that the line is (apparently) still saying that 0845 is local rate is a lie. Plain and simple. I don't think we were "lumping you together" as such - just pointing out that you should not be reporting call cost information incorrectly.

I don't doubt that the number was originally set up in good faith, but (as you agree) times have changed. It is now unfortunately (especially for those calling from a mobile) much more expensive to call an 0845 number than it is to call a normal geographic or UK-wide 03 number. I know that that is a situation outside of the control of the users of 0845 numbers, but I'm sure that it makes pretty logical sense that during a flood, most people will be calling from a mobile and not their landline.

I'm glad to here that the use of an 03 number is being considered. Obviously, as you say, a lot of money has been spent on publicising the 0845 number, but that is no reason to not go ahead with an 03 number. Surely both numbers can be run concurrently, and publicity for the 03 number can overtake that of the 0845 number.

Finally, I'm sure that you guys do a great job and many are grateful for your help and assistance. :)

mirthman wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2008 at 12:12am:

Hi there. Couldn't resist adding a few comments on this, as I'm one of the folk who works with one of the government agencies which operates Floodline. […] Floodline calls to SEPA (and the EA's regional communication centres) are routed from a shared call centre in Bangor, Northern Ireland. This is operated by Teleperformance (previously MMT), who also provide further service back-up to both agencies during major flooding events. […]

See case study from Teleperformance:

http://www.teleperformance.co.uk/media/downloads/case_studys/Case_Study_Environment_Agency.pdf


Quote:

The Floodline service was jointly developed over a period of six months by Teleperformance and the Environment Agency’s Floodline team to establish a comprehensive message management service to support their emergency telephone helpline. The new Remote Message Service (RMS) utilises a complex Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) messaging system and knowledge base, containing over 2,000 messages, providing real-time updates to callers on the state of flood alert for their own geographical location. Using a dedicated bank of 720 IVR lines, the RMS is used to greet all callers at the front end of the service, providing them with total self-service functionality.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that there are 720 geographical numbers, but it nonetheless suggests that the Floodline IVR is hosted by Teleperformance.

Good Evening,

it's clearly been a few years since this post has been commented on, so I thought I'd come here and make a comment.

The Environment Agency (EA) is STILL displaying an 0845 number for it's Flood Line service, despite SayNoTo0870 finding out the 0345 equivalent.

I noticed that the EA has changed a multitude of numbers to 03 alternatives but not this one.

Has anyone been in contact with them over this?

I have also posted regarding it here: http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1354104920/0#6

Good Afternoon All,

Just thought I'd pay the Environment Agency (EA) website a visit... and low and behold right in the middle of the main page they are proudly advertising their Flood Line with the 0845 number listed...

What a surprise...

Sorry but it does still annoy me.  >:(

Just noticed that the NI Direct Floodline has been on 0300 2000 100 since at least December 2009.

IanG, how strange they have got the idea sorted already from way back then....

I have given the 0845 alternative to a friend of mine who is in a flood risk area, with the request to test it.. I have also advised to keep the 0845 number just in case.

I shall report back with any info.

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