Fourteen British service personnel have died after their aircraft crashed in Afghanistan....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5308622.stm

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This is disgraceful! It will cost you to determine if your loved ones are involved. I wonder how much the Goverment will make out of this one......

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I would have thought that enquiries in this instance would be unlikely to be handled at multiple call centres in the country but from a single office in the MoD.

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Too much for the UK Government?  What is the actual cost of a freephone number for, say, one week which is all that is required here.

lompos wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2006 at 9:54am:
Well for some unknown reason government bodies generally choose BT most likely because they have contract with BT.

If you take a look here then it would cost around 5ppm for every minute us citizens are on the phone to them, with a £11.75 additional linerental for the number.  I assume there is also a minimum period of about a month if not longer knowing how BT generally work.

There are other 080x providers out there but government bodies generally choose BT probably expecting a good service when in fact they will be getting ripped off compared to other providers.

I would love to see more use of freephone numbers but in the UK the use of these numbers is still expensive I believe.

MoD, like many other government departments, companies and citizens, probably think 0845 is local rate so therefore MoD probably think their use of this number is not expensive because its charged at so-called "local rates."  They probably don't realise this isn't true, and that 0845 can cost upto 40ppm from some mobiles and that they are generally excluded from any inclusive price plans us citizens may have.

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So let us do some sums.  How many people are likely to phone the helpline considering that the families of all 14 servicemen who were killed in the crash have been informed, as I recall, within 24 hours of the crash? Say 200 people phone and each is on the phone for 10 minutes.

This will cost the MoD 2000 minutes @ 5ppm = £100 + £11.75 linerental, a total of under £200.

This is petty cash, a pinprick on an elephant.  The MoD's annual budget is measured in £billions.

It is not a question of cost, just that these mindless and ignorant bureaucrats lack any consideration for people who are deeply worried about family members posted overseas.

mikeinnc wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2006 at 10:53pm:
If thats the case then the cost is the same on a mobile whether it's a freephone or an 0845.  Dialling a freephone from a mobile hasn't actually been free for many, many, many years.

The very least a geographical should have been listed as well for those calling from a mobile.