Radio Lacashire broadcast an 0845 number for callers to their "action line" and described it as "local rate", I told them about the describing this as "local rate" was wrong and against all the guidlines, I got the usual response and they would not alter it, I contacted Ofcon and this morning received the following reply by letter, and Radio Lancashire now omit the reference to "local rate", they just do not tell you the cost of the call.
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Ref. 2650112
20 Mar 2006
Steven Turner
Broadcast Associate
Direct Line: 020 7783 4416
DireCt FaX: 020 7981 3334
steven.turner@ofcom.org.uk
Dear Mr ******
BBC Radio Lancashire
Thank you for contacting us. We have noted your complaint about the stipulation of costs for the above radio station's "action line".
In its review of Number Translation Services, Ofcom made it clear that the 'local' and 'national' rate terms as applied to 0845 and 0870 numbers may be misleading and should not be used by advertisers. We have also contributed to the Advertising Standards Authority's and the Committee of Advertising Practice's guidance on the use of these terms. This guidance similarly states that charges for these numbers should not be described in this way.
Your complaint relates to a promotion of a phone-in service within a BBC programme and as such, is not technically classified as advertising. We have, however, notified BBC Radio Lancaster to make them aware that this promotion could potentially be misleading.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Yours sincerely,
Steven Turner
Broadcast Support Team
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0845/Ofcon & Radio Lancs (Read 8,285 times)
