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:

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?

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.