On Sunday my landline internet connection went down as my router lost all its settings during a re-configuration attempt.  I then realised I had no phone number to call my ISP with as the only numbers I could get hold of were on their website (they bizarrely did not send their phone number in their original welcome emails).

I therefore drove half a mile to my nearest phone box presuming I could get the number for free only to find that money was demanded when I tried to call 118500 (I think it was a minimum 60p charge but this clearly not the charge per minute for speaking to them).  I then called the BT Operator and asked what were the charges for various different DQ services I was aware of such as BT's historically cheaper (only one number search allowed) 118 707 and numbers such as 118 111.  The Payphone Operator could not tell me any of these prices but could only give me the rate for their own Payphone DQ service on I think 118246.

They said only Payphone Customer Services might know call rates to DQ services of other network operators but they were closed on a Sunday!!!!!

In the end I belatedly realised I could get the number on my little used Smartphone and so got hold of it that way but I think it is totally shocking that BT alllow Payphone customers to be thrust in to the hands of DQ sharks when they make no effort to provide a modern electronic means of looking phone numbers up for free in their phone boxes.

BT's strategy actually seems to be to closed these boxes down as soon as possible by making them so inconvenient and expensive to use that no will ever use them.  At that point they will then claim there is no longer a demand for the service.  The Royal Mail plays much the same tricks with its ludicrously early last collection times for mail posted on a Saturday.

As for the business of allowing people to be connected to the desired number without telling them it is going to cost several quid a minute clearly this should never have been allowed if these rates were going to be charged and if the facility was to be offered then the continued call rate after ceasing speaking to Directory Enquiries should have been limited to some far, far, lower amount.

Unfortunately the lunatics have long since taken over the asylum at OfCoN so all too predictably no such protections of the citizen consumer are in place.