Source: Plymouth Herald

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/business/Number-s-ratesarticle-586347-details/ar...

Number's up for call rates
Monday, January 05, 2009, 14:31

PHONE users are paying a "secret tax" when they call numbers beginning with 084 and 087, says Plymouth business leader Richard Thomas.

Mr Thomas, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said that some Plymouth organisations appeared to genuinely believe that they were acting in their customers' best interests by using these numbers.

He said that 0845 numbers cost between 3p and 5p a minute, from a landline, depending on the caller's network. From a mobile 0845 numbers cost 17p a minute.

And 0870 numbers rise even more dramatically: 7p to 10p from a landline and an astonishing 24p a minute by mobile.

These numbers can allow the business or organisation using the number to receive a small share of the call charge. They are usually excluded from call packages.

Meanwhile, most phone packages offered local calls free or at very low cost, Mr Thomas said.

"I can call Australia for the same price as calling an 0870 number from a landline here, and they have the temerity to call it a local rate."

He has persuaded Plymouth City Council to abandon 0870 numbers at the city's two main public swimming pools and go back to using local numbers.

The council expects to make the switch next year, as a campaign against costly "non-geographic" numbers gathers force.

Meanwhile Sheryll Murray, Conservative councillor and prospective parliamentary candidate, has called for GP surgeries to be forced to use local numbers.

Mrs Murray, Caradon district councillor for Millbrook, has backed a public consultation into the use of the controversial 'Surgery Line" telephone system. She called on doctor's surgeries to make public their local direct dial telephone numbers for patients to use.

She said the Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust should make it compulsory for all GPs to publish the local telephone number – in addition to the 0844 number.

Some Plymouth surgeries also use 0844 numbers.

The Plymouth Pavilions has an 0845 number for all incoming calls, but spokesman Rob Maltby defended their policy.

"We don't make a penny from our 0845 number. The rate from a mobile, which can be up to 25p, is determined by the mobile phone operator and has nothing to do with us," he said.

"If our customers do not have access to a landline we would advise them to book online where it is cheaper than booking over the telephone."

At least one high-profile Government agency uses 0870 numbers – the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea.

Mr Thomas said the high charges were particularly discriminatory to young people, who were more likely to rely on mobile phones.

These numbers all allow the operator to earn revenue from incoming calls. In the case of the DVLA, this is in the range of 0.5p to 3.5p a minute.

"This is a particularly bad way for the DVLA to raise tax," Mr Thomas said. "It doesn't make sense. Most of the profit goes to the phone company."

Mr Thomas said many of his members in the Federation of Small Businesses were being hit by the high charges.

His own business, Dartline Energy Reduction Systems, relied on making frequent calls to energy providers like EDF, many of which use 084 numbers.

Ofcom, the communications regulator, says it encourages public bodies to use the cheaper 03 number range, which can cost no more than a national rate call to an 01 or 02 number and must count towards any inclusive minutes in the same way as 01 and 02 calls.

The Devon and Cornwall Police non-emergency number, 08452 777 444, was brought in to cut costs at a time when the peak national rate tariff was around 8p a minute.

With costs falling, the police are now considering using a cheaper 03 number, and have reserved 0345 2 777 444.