I sent an email yesterday requesting the equivalent geographic number for Surrey Police non-emergency number. I did not expect any response, and was prepared to submit an FOI, however the following reply was provided today:

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Sir,

I have been asked by the Chief Constable to reply to your recent e-mail. In the event you should have to contact Surrey Police whilst outside the UK please use the follow number: -

01483 571212

I do apologies for any incovieyance that may have been caused. (sic)

Regards,
>>

idb wrote on Nov 29^th, 2005 at 1:33am:

Sir, I have been asked by the Chief Constable to reply to your recent e-mail. In the event you should have to contact Surrey Police whilst outside the UK please use the follow number: - 01483 571212 I do apologies for any incovieyance that may have been caused.

That would be the same 01483 571212 then that I had listed on this site as Surrey Police's Non Emergency Number over 5 months ago on this website (Verified List) following correspondence with Surrey Police Authority.  In their initial response to my correspondence they refused to concede there was a significant problem with calling 0845 but in a subsequent follow up phone call I asked the lady at Surrey Police Authority if she could remind me of the geographic number for their headquarters building at Mount Brown in Guildford (foolishly I had not kept old phone books).  Whereupon she gave me the above 01483 number.

I then later called said number to report a possible theft of my credit card details via a fake Ebay clone website and was connected to the non emergency number switchboard via the 01483 Guildford HQ number.

It is interesting that they are now giving the 01483 number as the official alternative from overseas.  Perhaps having had a question on this very matter from the floor from a certain local councillor at the Annual Conference of Surrey Police Authority (for local stakeholders but not the public per se) back in June and with the said councillor then having discussed it afterwards with the Deputy Chief Constable for Operations they have begun to realise that there is a problem.

The Contact Centre Manager for Surrey County Council has also written to tell me that they are presently trying to extricate themselves from their current 0845 call centre contract and plan to replace this with a geographic phone number.