Useful Information & Say no to 0870! Hot Topics

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This page is for public sector organisations only such as the police, local councils and the NHS. Charities and private sector companies are listed on this page.

This “Hall of Fame” lists those bodies who have switched to 03xx “UK-wide” numbers as well as those who have abandoned their 084x and 087x prefixed numbers in favour of either conventional geographical or UK-wide ones. Some organisations have signalled that they have decided to change soon, and they too are listed at the end.

Where a discussion thread exists on the forum for a particular organisation, a link is provided in the form of “[Discussion thread]”. Relevant minutes of meetings and media articles are posted on these threads.




Hyperlinks for these organisations go to the relevant page on their website giving their telephone number.

Action Fraud 0300 123 2040
Adjudicator’s Office 0300 057 1111
BBC various 0370 numbers; also BBC Children in Need donation line is now 0345 733 2233
Business Support Wales 0300 060 3000
Census 2011 0300
Communities and Local Government Publications 0300 123 1124
Companies House 0303 1234 500
Consumerline - Consumer advice for Northern Ireland 0300 123 6262
Crossrail 0345 602 3813
Department for Transport 0300 330 3000
Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) 0300 060 4000
Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) 0300 068 6400
Driving Standards Agency - Customer Services 0300 200 1122
DVLA 0300 790 680x
Energy Ombudsman Service 0330 440 1624
Environment Agency 03708 506 506
Financial Ombudsman Service 0300 123 9 123 / 0800 0 234 567
Financial Services Authority (FSA) - Money Made Clear consumer helpline 0300 500 5000
Government Car and Despatch Agency - Government Mail 0300 123 2233 Regional Plus bookings and enquiries.
Highways Agency Information Line 0300 123 5000
HM Courts Service - Payment of Court Fine 0300 790 9901
Homes & Communities Academy (HCA) 0300 1234500
Identity & Passport Service [Discussion thread] 0300 222 0000
Independent Safeguarding Authority 0300 123 1111
JANET 0300 300 2212
Legal Services Commission 0300 200 2020
Loan Shark helpline (North-West, Yorkshire, Central England & the South) 0300 555 2222 Provided by Birmingham City Council
Loan Shark helpline (Wales) 0300 123 3311
Loan Shark helpline (South West) 0300 1234 247 Provided by Bristol City Council
Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) 0300 061 0614
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service [Discussion thread] 0370 6060699
Northern Ireland Flooding Incident Hotline 0300 2000 100 [Discussion thread]
Ofcom 0300 123 3000
Office of the Public Guardian 0300 456 0300
Ofqual 0300 303 3344

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - Mental Health Crisis Helpline - 0300 456 83 42
Sutton and Merton PCT - Dental helpline 0300 1000 898
Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust 0300 999 0135
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust 0300 303 1573
Urgent Care Cambridgeshire 0330 123 9131
West Sussex Primary Care Trust - Out of hours GP service 0300 130 1313 Provided by Harmoni
West Yorkshire Urgent Care Services 0345 605 99 99
Wiltshire PCT - Kennet, North & West Wilts Out of hours service 0300 111 5717 Provided by Wiltshire Medical Services
Worcestershire PCT - Out of hours service 0300 123 3211 Provided by Take Care Now (TCN)


Local Authorities/Organisations

2010 Rotherham 0300 100 2010
Bedfordshire Carers Helpline [Discussion thread] 0300 01234 35
Bexley Council: Council tax and housing benefits 0345 302 2317
Cambridgeshire County Council [Discussion thread] 0345 045 5200
Central Bedfordshire Council [Discussion thread] 0300 300 8000
Cheshire East Council [Discussion thread] 0300 123 5500
Cheshire West and Chester Council 0300 123 8 123
Cornwall Council [Discussion thread] 0300 1234 100
Dale and Valley Homes 0300 200 0194
Derby City Council - Council Tax enquiries 0333 200 6900
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council 0300 555 2345
Dumfries & Galloway Council 030 33 33 3000
Durham County Council 0300 123 7070
East Dunbartonshire Council 0300 123 4510
East Sussex County Council [Discussion thread] 0345 60 80 190
Halton Borough Council 0303 333 4300
Hertfordshire County Council 0300 123 4040
Isle of Anglesey County Council Tax Payments 0300 123 0800
Lancashire County Council - Help Direct 0303 333 1111
Manchester City Council Housing On Call 03000 112211
New Directions Reading 0345 842 0012
Newcastle & Sunderland Neighbourhood helpline [Discussion thread] 0300 1000 101
Norfolk County Council 0344 800 8020 [Discussion thread]
North Tyneside Council 0345 2000 101
Northamptonshire County Council - Register Offices 0300 126 1010
Northern Ireland Housing Executive 0344 892 0900

Discussion threads contain links to minutes of meetings and other relevant pages showing the change of telephone number(s).

Basildon University Hospital
Green Lanes Surgery, Enfield
Hastings Borough Council [Discussion thread] Having switched to 0845 numbers previously, it is now in the process of changing back to geographicals.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [Discussion thread]
Leeds City Council [Discussion thread] Having adopted 0845 numbers in 2006, it has now switched back to geographicals.
Mid Essex Hospital NHS Trust [Discussion here]
NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT
Otterfield NHS Medical Centre
Redcar & Cleveland Council [Discussion here] Changed from 0845 to geographical
Salisbury House Surgery, Leighton Buzzard (used to be 0844)
Scottish Parliament
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
South Northamptonshire Council - The old number, 0845 230 0226, is no longer published.
The Limes Surgery, Margate

I think this is a great idea as it enables us to use it as a point of reference, it will be very useful, when dealing with "bad" public sector organisations, to be able to direct them to a list of "good" ones.   Is there any scope for a resume of WHY 084X & 087X numbers are inappropriate for use by the public sector?   It would then mean the same arguments (updated as necessary) are advanced to all these organisations when we are trying to "persuade" them to behave properly!

jgxenite wrote on Dec 30^th, 2008 at 4:33pm:

Done.

JANET(UK), the organisation that oversees the JANET educational network, has changed from 0870 numbers to 0300 numbers - http://www.ja.net/services/contact.html#ServiceDesk

Scottish Parliament has changed from a 0845 number and now publishes both 0131 and 0800 numbers for contact from the public.

Andrew_S_Hatton wrote on Mar 31^st, 2010 at 10:07am:

There is a Hall of Shame which is linked to at the top of this thread. It is not stickied because we can't have too many stickied threads because it will leave less room on the first index page for normal threads.