Barbara wrote on Mar 24^th, 2011 at 9:38am:

Lazy officers are probably still called 'uniform carriers' and Special Constables 'Hobby Bobbies' but Blunkett's policing on-the-cheap PCSOs are something else.

Unfortunately, they appear to always be allowed/told to patrol in pairs and are paid two-thirds the salary of a real PC (hence, 2 PCSOs = one and a third PCs) despite having almost no real powers.

The publication of a single non-emergency number (either for each force or for each all forces) would seem to be the best solution as the main non-emergency communication channel.

This thread is speculating on the latest announcement. Has it been assumed that the statement by the OP that "all" non-emergency calls will go through 101 will mean that every last one will do? I am not so sure that this will mean that local police station numbers will no longer be publicised. From my work looking at police non-emergency numbers, some forces publish divisional numbers and others don't. This policy would appear at present to be decided by each individual force. So does this latest announcement bring this to an end?

Most police forces have a single non-emergency number. Perhaps the 101 number will be answered in the same way (from an operational point of view). Again, I understand that single non-emergency numbers don't always go through to one single location; evidently this is another matter which is decided at local (force) level.

Yes, but is it 10 pence from a mobile?

I am totally apposed to the idea of 101 calls

Yes I agree that maybe if there was an alternative number to ring people may use it rather than ringing 999 but SAVY callers such as most Sayno members will not.

I for one would NEVER  ring it I would contact the local station or if I couldn't I would ring 999

It is totally against my principles but being ripped off is as well

There is a simple solution just leave the existing 01/02 numbers in tact for those of us that wish to use them.

I have just contacted Virgin Media and they didn't have a clue. "Its no good them ringing 101 it doen't work in India"

At far as I can make out the charges are as follows

Connection charge 9p
Call Charge 10p

This is a flat rate and callers will only be charged the connection charge and a one off flat rate, but as usual calls may vary etc etc etc

I will stress again if I cannot contact the police without being charged very expensive crazy rates for the call I will not contact them at all

I am currently working on a comprehensive table of costs for calling 101 from major providers. If anyone else is doing the same then perhaps we should compare progress by PM / Email - it is not easy!!

I am also making considerable progress in verifying the extent of the truth behind the Windsor Telecom announcement. I have nothing to report as yet.

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bazzerfewi wrote on Mar 26^th, 2011 at 9:24am:

Virgin Media is actually simple, because its charges are published in the normal way.

Page 53 of Calls from home UK Non-Geographic calls shows the Charge Band for 101 to be "FF31".
Page 11 of Calls from home residential tariffs shows FF31 to be a fixed-fee call at 10.22 pence per call.

There appears to be some commonality here, as most telcos applied the 2.13% increase to VAT inclusive rates in January to all "set" charges.

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japitts wrote on Mar 25^th, 2011 at 3:45pm:

If this is exclusive of VAT, then it would confirm a fixed fee set at 10p per call when the VAT Rate was 17.5%.

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bazzerfewi wrote on Mar 26^th, 2011 at 10:29am:

To answer the question, it is probably not right!

I can confirm the general experience of telco telephone enquiry staff having very poor detailed information available to them and no understanding of tariffs or the UK telephone system. They are in no position whatsoever to provide accurate advice on call costs where the issues are in the slightest complex.

To be fair, no such service is offered, as the IVR menus generally do not include an option for enquiries about call costs, other than queries about charges already raised on a presented bill.

Because telcos are obliged to publish all call charges (at least to their customers), one is best to pursue published information, for those who do so with public access through the internet. This may not be easy either, but it does enable one to hold the publisher accountable.

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bazzerfewi wrote on Mar 26^th, 2011 at 9:24am:

We are each fully entitled to our personal views and to behave in whatever way we wish.

On the issue of public policy, it appears that the English Police services are prepared to sign up to the idea of having a common non-emergency number. We can criticise, but we may have to accept this decision as having been made. This leaves the question of how the telephone call element of the cost of the service should be funded, given that each Police service will fund its call centres in the same way as it funds other costs.

One option is for calls to be "free to caller" so they are paid for by taxpayers (national or local) in general or perhaps by the customers of each telephone company. Commercial sponsorship is another option; this is often regarded as acceptable by Police services, but I have considerable doubts. If there is to be a charge, this could be fixed per call or a rate per minute. Telcos could have the option of bundling the charge into package fees.

I can personally see a good argument for having a common charge for all calls to this particular service. What may appear to be crazy and expensive for a landline user with a call inclusive package may not be so for someone calling from a Public Payphone or PAYG mobile. (I have yet to discover exactly what the current, or proposed, situation actually is.)

If a common charge were to be put in place, I can fully understand the resentment that would be felt by those who believe that they have paid for all of their telephone calls, at being treated in the same way as those who have not paid anything in advance. There is indeed a strong argument for those who pay most tax being entitled to a better service from the Police than those who pay little tax.
(I hope that readers can recognise irony )

I am inclined to believe that if a common call charge can be set at a reasonable level to enable calls to be self-funding across the board, then this is probably the best way forward. (I must stress that these views apply only to this particular service. I do not commend the same approach for telephone access to public services in general.)

bazzerfewi wrote on Mar 26^th, 2011 at 9:24am:


I certainly agree with you so far as using an 084x number for non-emergencies is concerned. Webform, 999 if urgent, or just not bother. There's always Crimestoppers (0800) if it's regarding an existing investigation.