Well said that man! Every time I hear "0870" on the Beeb it makes my blood boil.

And the ridiculous thing is my local BBC radio station advertises 0500 827 362 as their traffic reports contact number – exactly the same number as given by other counties’ local BBC stations.  In other words, it’s a central system – and probably goes to the same place as that 0870 number!

And when you want to call that freephone number, where will you be:

A - In your car, and you pull over to make the call (or you're a passenger and make the call without pulling in) using your mobile where 0500 calls may not be included in your inclusive minutes, making it more expensive than geographic numbers, or

B - At home, or at work, where you will have no idea what the traffic is like because you're not driving!!

Seems like the BBC think the answer is B.

It's not just the BBC, my local commercial station advertises 08000 727142 to report traffic problems, which I think is an outside agency who supply the reports to various local stations.