SilentCallsVictim wrote on Feb 15^th, 2010 at 2:02am:


One thing this report is not confused about ----  is that the Home Office wants to charge the public to call the police and to prevent us from using normal phone numbers at normal rates, including the ability to call numbers for which the cost is within our "inclusive" packages.

A quick look at the first few comments on this article shows immediately what is the primary concern of the public --- the charge for calling the police.   All other potential matters of concern are subsidiary.   The Home Office ought to concern itself with the matter of the charge as it's first priority.

These are the first comments recorded on the Daily Mail site :---

 Rating   14
I'll just use 999 then
- Paul B, Surrey, England, 14/2/2010 0:10
Click to rate     Rating   14
No one will call the police, bad behaviour will escalate and contribute to damaged of britain.
- Romi May, Handsworth Wood, 14/2/
NEXT CHARGE BY THE LOONEY LEFT LABOUR PARTY WILL BE £1.00 TO CALL 999.
- bipin, london, 13/2/2010 23:29
Rating   6
Well this had to come sooner or later because this stupid half wit government - "The Blair's legacy" is so short of cash because of all the coffers persistently being bled dry by loafers. Combine that with the people with sense, who've emigrated by the hundreds of thousands so they don't pay tax which runs into millions of pounds in loss to the government, so now, they're just hell bent on creating ways to wallop the hard pressed worker AGAIN for a tax.

The next thing to be taxed will be texts, mobile phone calls, internet time, etc etc.. this government through the Blair's and bad management have no money so see the need to create theft taxes to make up for their stupidity and loss!

Plus, their expenses of course!
- Gary Rose, La-La-Land, 14/2/2010 1:20
Click to rate     Rating   5
Why does Brown not go the hole hog - make ALL calls to the police premium rate services paycalls and charge a pound a call per minute, using 0900 999 999 - we could see a service where the police ride around in Rolls Royces and fly Lear jets and live in Mayfair penthouses.

If that is a non-goer, lets just do away with the police altogether, as the magistrates and judges are so hidebound by NuLabour's sentencing guidelines that criminals get let off and householders who fight back are prosecuted and gaoled.
- peter marton, middlesbrough, 14/2/2010 1:17
Click to rate     Rating   5
probabley another of gords fruit cake ideas to stop.folk ringing in...hell then claim crime figures are down ......why not just charge 10 quid per 999 call.....
- onemansjob, barnsley england., 14/2/2010 1:11
Click to rate     Rating   8
My guess if they have to pay to report crime then people will just continue to use 999. I once reported an incident on the police's local number that charged after 5 minutes waiting I hung up and after that I resolved never to call again.
- Stephen, St. Ives, Cornwall, 14/2/2010 1:11
Click to rate     Rating   11
should be free to report crime. It is criminal to charge us to report crime.
- The Voice of reason, UK, 14/2/2010 0:42
I was gob smacked to return to GB to see 0845 tel numbers on police cars. Are the police in GB today so dumb that they think people will phone to aid them at their own expense and at the profit of the police? Most people have phone packages that allow for free calls to regular tel numbers, why not give a regular tel number? If the police won't help us help them fight crime with free reporting of crime, guess what, we won't bother. It's human nature. Maybe that's what they want, if it isn't reported then the stats will show that crime is dropping and they are doing their job. The Blair system.

It would serve the Home Office and Police to consult those who might have information of value to the authorities, and learn that this will cost the country much more due to the lack of public cooperation and reporting of crime than it will save. When in GB I WILL NOT do business with any company that makes me use 0845 # for any service. This applies to all. Wake up Britain. Save 10p.
- MG, BRIT in Seattle, USA, 14/2/2010 2:04
Click to rate     Rating   9

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250876/10p-charge-police-revived-101-nu...



And the majority of the 91 comments go on to gripe about the idea of charging us extra to call the police to report a possible crime, or unacceptable behaviour --- in order to help the police.   (The "rating" indicates where readers have voted in favour of the comment.)   Even though the charge proposed is a flat rate of 10p per call, the people who have taken the trouble to comment on this article amost all are annoyed, angry, fed up, mad and enraged that all this Government want to do is to rip-off the Bristish people.   Isn't it about time that the Government changed their attitude and actually DO something for a change??    For example to stop the NHS scamming patients with 0845 and 0844 numbers ( because what has been done so far appears to be a complete failure) and get Ofcom to scrap 0843/5, 0844 and 0871/2/3 numbers altogether??

loddon wrote on Feb 15^th, 2010 at 9:24am:

Whilst the somewhat perverse views of Daily Mail readers do little to advance the debate, the general point about a 10p charge to report anti-social behaviour will be one of the reasons why this idea will struggle to get off the ground - I suspect that 111 will face similar problems.

I wonder why none of the correspondents suggest that it would indeed be good to do more to make it easier for people to get action taken against anti-social behaviour (a view that one might expect to find in these columns), but that this new measure should be funded out of taxation or by adding to the deficit. It may be somewhat disturbing to think that at the general election they will be voting for candidates who will be able to provide protection from crime and nuisance out of their personal wealth. Even more disturbing is the idea that "the Police" is some independent body that should take care of itself and discharge its responsibilities without the need for engagement with citizens.

The idea that the present government, or indeed any likely incoming government, would possibly abolish Ofcom's independence and take a more anti-business position under direct control is somewhat fanciful. Similarly I have seen no indication that we could look forward to the NHS being run more directly from Whitehall.

On balance we must remember that in this pre-manifesto situation, all initiatives and counter-proposals from the two parties hoping to form the next government are little more than traps set to lure their opponents into some hopefully catestrophic error.