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I have sent this complaint earlier. I doubt whether the intended recipients will actually see the complaint however there will be a record of this in case they ever decide to do this again.
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To Phillip Webb, PITO/CEO
To Stephen Carter, Ofcom/CEO
To Kip Meek, Ofcom/Competition Partner
To Geoff Brighton, Ofcom/NTS
To Matt Peacock, Ofcom/Communications
To Ailsa Beaton, Director of Information, Metropolitan Police
I trust that this morning, you will spare more than a moment's thought for
the efforts of emergency workers who have performed an outstanding job in
the aftermath of the London bombings last week and contrast these efforts
with your own activities in establishing a casualty bureau contact facility
which used an 0870 revenue generating telephone number. Such a number has
met with widespread condemnation this weekend and deservedly so. As well as
preventing many callers from overseas being able to contact the bureau, the
use of a number costing almost eight pence per minute from landlines and
significantly more from cellular phones and call boxes is both irresponsible
and distasteful, particularly when around four pence per minute is passed to
a commercial organization for it to profit from this tragedy.
I trust that, whilst you sit in your comfortable air-conditioned offices
this morning, you will also consider the friends and relatives that are
still seeking information about missing or injured persons being forced to
call a number that is charging up to fifty pence per minute from some
cellular networks and contrast this with your inability to provide a free
telephone number for UK callers and a geographic number for international
callers together with your incompetence in removing these despicable
numbers from the UK numbering system as they provide, with very few
exceptions, no tangible benefit to the UK telephone user.
Whilst PITO has to take responsibility for this specific shameful incident,
the wider blame for the rotten NTS regime lies firmly with Ofcom and its
ineffectiveness in providing both regulatory activity and protection of the
public. I note that in the UK media this weekend, Ofcom has attempted to
absolve itself from any responsibility for the use of what are, in all but
name, premium rate numbers (the description Ofcom's Matt Peacock gave for
0870 on a BBC radio programme) as an emergency contact and, despite many
complaints from the public, despite overwhelming condemnation of the NTS
regime from respondents to the recent Ofcom consultation documents, and
because of constant dithering and failure to act on continued abuses of
these rip-off numbers, it has failed to take any action to protect the
public.
Perhaps now, Ofcom will finally realize that the use of NTS by government
agencies, non-profit organizations and commercial bodies that can reasonably
expect to receive international inbound calls is unacceptable. As a British
citizen who is resident overseas, I am sick and tired from being denied
access to essential government services that use 0870, 0845 and 0844
telephone numbers. I am sick and tired of having to make Freedom of
Information requests to the DVLA, the Home Office, the Immigration and
Nationality Directorate, the Ministry of Defence and numerous other agencies
simply to obtain a number that I can actually call from the United States.
Ofcom has already provided a response to my FOI request that outlines the
difficulty for terminating international calls to 0870 numbers. As Ofcom is
clearly aware of this problem, and the COI has published guidance that is
seemingly ignored by agencies such as the Home Office, the continuing lack
of any action by the UK regulator demonstrates gross incompetence and a lack
of 'joined-up' government.
The whole NTS regime, particularly the 0870 and 0871 numbering schemes, is
shrouded in deceit as shown by Ofcom's redaction of the key financial
figures in its recent NTS consultations and action must now be taken to
prevent these numbering systems from ever being used again for any such
similar tragedy.
Foresight is a quality that senior civil servants should be fully familiar
with. The use of a premium rate (in all but name) telephone number for an
emergency center demonstrates complete cluelessness and a lack of any
such foresight. Those involved with this decision should, in my opinion,
consider their own positions - such a failure, given that there would have
been many months of planning for such an emergency, is inexcusable.
Finally, I hope that both PITO and Ofcom will find the time to issue an
apology for the abject failure to plan for this event and also to ensure
that the significant revenue generated from the 0870 number is used to aid
the victims of the explosions. I will be making a copy of this letter
available to my Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom.
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London Blasts - Using 0870 as Emergency Number (Read 379,525 times)
