What I find most devious is that they say calls are charged at the "NORMAL local rate".
If that is not totally misleading then what is??
Trust your local police?

firestop wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2006 at 8:07am:


Doesn't matter they are still in breach of ASA codes and Ofcom guidance to make any claims that 0845 is a Local rate call.  Normal doesn't help at all.  And anyhow the 0845 is not the NORMAL local rate.  The BT Option 1 rate is and that's a completely different rate off peak.

If they said it was Lo-Call then ironically that technically speaking would be true as the useless shower at Ofcom still haven't taken action to force BT to stop the use of this brand name with 0845 numbers.

idb wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2006 at 10:20pm:


Unfortunately many Chief Constables seem to assign correspondence to their public email address to some lowly correspondence sergeant for reply.  Like all these faceless organisations I'm sure he does get a report on the total number of complaints to him per quarter or per annum on any one topic.  So if lots of people email or write on the issue it will register.

The problem with the Police is they always have the attitude they are right and that anyone who challenges what they do is a sinister troublemaker and malcontent.  And as we have seen with poor Mr Menenzes they have a frightening amount of power to manipulate the facts to try and divert criticism away from themselves even when they have made a gross error of jusgement.  County Councillors get some say as a load of them are on the Police Authority but we lowly district councillors don't get a look in there.  Anyone who lives in Northampton writing to a County Councillor who is on Northamptonshire Police Authority woule be a good idea.

If Northamptonshire County Council have not had an 0845 up to now to bring it in at this point shows total braindeadedness when even the useless Pito who advises them and your bete noir Mr Philip Webb know perfectly well by now how unhappy the public is about these numbers.

If the Police want their 101 numbers then why do they propose launching these number too????

saynonto0871 wrote on Feb 6^th, 2006 at 7:35pm:


Your complaint to the ASA will be very effective if they have made a clear misleading claim that the calls are at Local rate.  The ASA told me that my complaint about Vodafone Choice's claim that 0870 was "charged at your telephone providers local rates" was the first complaint that had been made to them about a clear cut breach of their new rules on 084/7 call prices.  So taking the trouble to make a complaint has much more impact with the guilty party and the ASA than you might think.  ASA also said that they thought most advertisers were well aware of new rules which is why there had not been a flood of complaints as since the change since most advertisers had changed the terms they now use.

It will then be an open and shut case that the ASA will refer them to their recent guidances for advertisers and that they cannot go on calling it local rate and must state 3p or 4p per minute as the maximum rate a typical BT customer may pay.  Its a rather contentious area as to whether they quote the 3p or 4p per minute fee as only BT Light User and In Contact Plus customers pay 4p per minute but there again BT Options 1, 2 and 3 are all discount schemes.  With 0870 the issue doesn't arise as 7.51p per minute (BT Together rate) and 7.91p per minute (Light User rate) all round up to 8p per minute.

The ASA assure me that complaints that they rule favourably on (as they almost certainly will with yours) result in a very firm letter to the head marketing person at the organisation concerned pointing out why there communciation is in error and why they cannot go on describing the number this way - if the company or organisation does it again and there is another complaint there is a full blown ASA investigation and hearing on the matter.

I suggest that the response to your complaint letter is circulated to members of the Police Authority if possible.  Or are you a serving Police officer in which case that may be a tricky thing for you to do.

saynonto0871 wrote on Feb 7^th, 2006 at 5:41pm:


Their main previous 01 number will almost certainly continue to operate.  Or at least that has been the case with Surrey Police who adopted their - 0845 number three or four years ago.

saynonto0871 wrote on Feb 7^th, 2006 at 5:52pm:
By which time Northamptonshire Police will have been swallowed up in one of Charles Clarke's super-force amalgamations so it's all a bit academic anyway.

saynonto0871 wrote on Feb 7^th, 2006 at 5:52pm:


If you call Surrey Police and tell them you called on their Guildford geographic number they always maintain it is about to be withdrawn.  This is utter twoddle as the 0845 is only a Number Translation Service and has to be redirected to a real phone line.

Saying that the old geographic number will soon be withdrawn is on the standard propaganda training sheets of the scam telcos who sell these 084 and 087 numbers.  People who work in call centres always mindlessly quote propaganda because anyone who doesn't follow the script or has an independent minded thought of their own is soon fired for gross misconduct