London phone numbers change again, according to the Daily Mail

I've written about this before, but yesterday the Daily Mail again reported the inaccurate claim that "London is to have its fourth telephone number shake-up in 14 years"

Sean Poulter's article states that:

In 2000, London codes were changed again to 0207 for inner and 0208 for outer London.

David Edmonds, who was the head of telecoms regulator OFTEL at the time, said this system was 'as future proof as possible' and there would be no need for any more changes for a generation

That simply isn't true. In 2000 the London code was changed to 020. The London code is remaining as 020. All that is changing is that now some numbers will be 020 3xxx xxxx, whereas until now all the 020 numbers have started either with a 7 or 8. David Edmonds is right - the system was future proofed - that is exactly why OFCOM can now start issuing (020) 3 numbers to boost the capacity of London's network without anybody having to change any exisiting numbers.

Of course the Mail even manages to drag out a rent-a-quote, David Bishop from the Federation of Small Businesses to spout that:

It really is shocking that we face a major change again

No, David, that isn't what is shocking about this "story".

Posted by Martin Belam, May 21, 2005    
Read the latest posts about: Daily Mail, OFCOM
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